Pinnacle
by I Ate Your Muffin
Summary: The Gym Leaders. The Elite Four. The Champions. Those were the trainers that were considered to be at the almost unreachable peak of pokemon training. Ash Ketchum begged to differ for he only had one ambition, one goal: to surpass them all. And he would take his first step by starting his journey with a rather determined and prideful charmander. Smart & eventually strong Ash. AU.
1. The First Step

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is part of the Pokémon franchise. The rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. I shall only use elements from the franchise on this piece of fan fiction for non-lucrative purposes.**

 **Make sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter before you start planning to murder me.**

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 **Chapter One: The First Step**

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' _Well, this is it,'_ he thought to himself after taking a deep breath as he stood in front of the doors that would lead him to the moment that would define his life from now onwards. It was understandable that he needed to psych himself up in preparation for this momentous occasion.

Ash Ketchum had turned thirteen years of age not a few months ago and having aced his PTLEs (Pokémon Training License Exams) shortly after meant that he could finally get a starter pokemon and set out on his own to journey across the Kanto region, catching and training pokemon and battling other pokemon trainers and gym leaders.

Ever since he could remember, Ash had been surrounded by pokemon, from his mother's Mr. Mime and Ambipom, both of whom had even helped raise him, to the many pokemon that could be found around Pallet Town, both from the surrounding wilderness and Professor Oak's ranch. Ash had fallen in love with the beautiful, powerful and dangerous creatures without even noticing it.

And then, not too long after he realized how much he loved pokemon, he witnessed a titanic battle between Professor Oak's dragonite and charizard, which were the only two of the four pokemon the Professor still kept around, the other two being his alakazam and arcanine, that enjoyed battling and could only do it with each other because only the other was their equal in strength.

At first, Ash had been appalled by the brutality displayed in the battle, with charizard and dragonite seemingly trying to kill each other, but he then had noticed the gleeful expression on their faces as they had exchanged mighty blow after mighty blow. And then he had noticed that he had not been the only one in awe at the battle. What had to be the entire pokemon of population of the ranch had joined him, Professor Oak and his grandson, Gary Oak, on watching the battle between the two titans.

It was in that moment that Ash had learned that most, if not all, pokemon immensely enjoyed battling and possessing strength. It was also that day that Ash, after a quick explanation from Professor Oak, had decided to become a pokemon trainer the moment he was able to do so. His mother, Delia, had been sad but accepting in a resigned kind of fashion, even claiming that she wasn't really surprised by it.

After that, with the direct help of his mother and the indirect help of Professor Oak, Ash had started preparing himself to become a pokemon trainer. Thanks to his mother's part-time job as a caretaker in Professor Oak's ranch, her full job being head chef and owner of her own restaurant, Ash had access to all kinds of pokemon he could interact with. Not only that, but with Professor Oak's lab being a few hundred meters away, he also had access to tons of information about pokemon, which, with Professor Oak's permission of course, he made sure to study every day.

All of that in preparation for this very day. He, along with Gary and another girl their age named Leaf Green, were going to receive their pokemon from Professor Oak, who had decided to sponsor the three of them after he deemed their PTLEs results worthy of his sponsorship. As the regional Professor of Kanto, and unofficially the highest authority in everything pokemon, being sponsored by Samuel Oak was a huge honor that none of them, not even his own grandson Gary, dared to take for granted.

Ash would do his best to deserve Professor Oak's sponsorship every day he spent as a trainer.

One of the highlights that came with being sponsored by Professor Oak was the chance to choose as starter between three rare breeds of Kanto native pokemon: bulbasaur, charmander and squirtle. They were almost Professor Oak's signature when it came to trainers he sponsored, so it wasn't a surprise when they got confirmation about those being the starters they were going get to choose from.

Naturally, Ash had gone and investigated each and everyone of them and their evolutions.

Bulbasaur where the easiest to raise with most of them possessing an easy-going personality that went well with newbie trainers. Also, thanks to them being able to learn status affecting moves early on, they were also perfect for catching pokemon. If raised correctly, they would grow to become the grass saurian behemoth that was venasaur, a literal tank that with the correct skillset could respond to almost every situation.

Next was charmander and they were arguably the hardest to raise and train due to their known stubbornness and aggressive tendencies due to the diluted draconic genes they possessed in their genome. Dragons were easily the hardest breed of pokemon to train and with the charmander line being an almost direct cousin to the Dragons, it was no surprise they could match their stubbornness. Any issue could be solved if the trainer earned the charmander's respect and learned how to work with them early on, however, so they could be given to newbie trainers without too many issues. When fully grown, charizard were masters of both aerial and land-based combat, hitting both hard and fast until something somehow managed to stop them.

And finally, there was squirtle which were harder to raise than bulbasaur because of an ingrained mischievousness that for some reason was found in all breeds of squirtle, but easier than charmander because they weren't as stubborn and aggressive. Squirtle are ideal for new trainers because of this and even when young they could pack a punch if trained correctly. When fully grown, a blastoise's shell was nigh impenetrable and their blasts of water could damage steel. They were heavy hitting tanks that very, very few things could stand up against.

All three of them called to him and Ash believed he wouldn't mind starting with either of them, but he knew that at the very least, he wouldn't be starting with squirtle. Gary had basically laid claim to the water pokemon and even though he felt tempted to pick the squirtle just to annoy him and as much as he disliked the arrogant teen, Ash was better than that and he wouldn't hear the end of it from Gary if he did so. Letting Gary get his squirtle would be an annoyance off his shoulder. He knew that and hoped that Leaf also knew that.

That left either bulbasaur or charmander and since Leaf was a girl and there existed that 'ladies first', it would really be up to her which one he got. Again, it was a good thing Ash really didn't mind which starter he got. He just wanted a pokemon he could call his own, so they could become friends and reach the top of the training world together. That was Ash's dream: to become the strongest pokemon trainer in the world and there was nothing in this world that would stop him if he had a say about it.

Though, he would be lying if he said that he didn't felt some partialism for charmander… oh, who was he kidding. He wanted a fire breathing lizard/pseudo-dragon!

Deciding that ten minutes was enough psyching up time, Ash took a deep breath and rang the bell of the lab. He shifted a bit for a few moments before one of the Professor's aids wearily opened the door and focused bleary eyes on him from behind round glasses.

The young adult offered a smile that was more of a grimace. "Ah, Ash. Just like the other two you are here earlier than you were supposed to," he said and motioned for Ash to enter. As he did so, Ash chuckled uncertainly when he heard the aid grumbling about kids not knowing about the bliss that was sleeping for as long as you could. The aid motioned towards the back of the building past many doors and fancy science equipment that Ash only had a vague idea how they worked and what they were for. "Gary and Leaf along with the Professor should be at the Professor's private workplace. It's the last door to the right."

Ash nodded at him in thanks and made a hasty pace to where he was indicated. When he arrived, he knocked on the door three times and waited. After a moment the raspy and deep, but still pleasant, voice of Professor Oak called for him to enter and with a carefully crafted blank face that hid his nervousness and eagerness, he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Oh, look who finally decided to join us!" Snarked an annoying and a bit nasally voice as a brown-haired boy wearing a purple shirt and black pants that had a sharp face smirked mockingly at him from where he stood with arms crossed leaning against the wall opposite from where he was. "Betcha' gonna be this slow in everything you do, like, pokemon training for example, eh, Ashy-boy?"

Ash's right eyebrow twitched as his fist tightened at his side, trying his best to not react to Gary's snide remarks. It was still difficult even after all this time, but Ash learned that Gary quickly lost interest if you ignored him.

A light brown-haired pretty girl wearing a hat, a blue tank top and a skirt rolled her eyes at Gary before giving Ash a beaming smile. "Just ignore him, Ash, you know how he is. Besides, we haven't been waiting long and it's not like you are late either."

"Ahem, yes," coughed middle-aged man whose hair had more than a few streaks of gray. Gary resembled him a lot. He was wearing a lab coat left unbuttoned over a red polo-shirt, brown slacks and black dress shoes. He gave Gary a disapproving stare that had Gary grimacing a bit before smiling sheepishly with a shrug. Professor Oak shook his head with a resigned sigh before motioning for the three of them stand in front of him.

When they did so, Professor Oak smiled at the three of them. "Now, I know that the reason the three of you came here earlier was because you were eager to get your pokemon and start your journeys and not because you didn't want to keep me off my work from longer than was necessary, but still, this old man thanks you sincerely," he teased them with a grin, unknowingly showing where Gary got that part of his personality from.

Unlike Gary, however, the Professor's good nature teasing resulted in both Leaf and Ash releasing an unseen tension as their shoulders slackened as all of them chuckled in amusement.

When the merriment ended, Professor Oak sobered up but he still had a small smile on his wizened face. "As you know, due to the results you three obtained on both the practical and theoretical portion of the PTLEs, I have decided to sponsor you and this comes with certain perks. Not only will you be able to chose a relatively rare pokemon specimen as your starter, but you will also have access to pokedexes with international data and charge-free access to send your pokemon to my ranch. Very few get these privileges, so I must stress how special this opportunity is."

Oak allowed that to sink and when the three of them nodded in resolute understanding he continued. "Now, with those perks comes a set of requirements that will go a long way in proving that I didn't make a mistake in deciding to sponsor you. The first one, obviously, is to not break any of the laws stipulated by joint Kanto/Johto League in either shape or form. Even the most minor infraction will get your sponsorship revoked. And secondly, I expect objective reports every fifteen days about your progress and the progress of your pokemon no matter how minimal. Failure to do so twice will result in your sponsorship revoked. Are we clear?"

Ash, Leaf and Gary, while a bit intimidated despite the Professor's best attempts to assure them, nodded their heads resolutely. "Yes, sir!"

Oak's smile widened a bit. "Good," he said before he motioned to three plain pokeballs that rested on top of the table behind him. "Here are the three starters I normally give the trainers I sponsor. Bulbasaur is the one on the left, Charmander is the one the middle and Squirtle is the one on the right. Remember, while the have already been tamed and are apt to be given to newly starting trainers, they still have their own personalities and ambitions. Don't forget that as you start to bond with them. With that said, ladies first," he said before moving to the side after giving Leaf an encouraging smile.

Leaf gulped a bit before she schooled her features and she began to walk towards the table. Ash tensed when he saw that she stood up right in front of where the ball that contained the charmander was but his sudden anxiety left him when he saw her start looking at each of the pokeballs. While this calmed Ash a bit, it had Gary losing his almost perpetual smug smirk.

After a few agonizing movements Leaf made her decision and grabbed the bulbasaur's pokeball, making Ash and Gary sigh in relief. They noted their similar actions and glared at each other.

Professor Oak chuckled as an excited Leaf made her way back to where she had been standing. "I don't think we need to let one or the other go first so go ahead both of you," he said with some exasperated amusement and Leaf giggled as Ash and Gary teared their eyes away from glaring at one another so they could walk towards the table. Gary made a beeline for Squirtle as snatched its pokeball and Ash did the same, with noticeably more calmness, with the charmander's pokeball.

When he saw the three teens just standing there looking awkward, Oak almost rolled his eyes. "What are you waiting for? Go ahead. Release and meet your pokemon." Oak had no fear of them making a ruckus. He had personally made sure they were well behaved… relatively.

From the corner of his eyes Ash watched as Leaf and Gary released their pokemon in a flash of white energy that materialized into their starters. Leaf's bulbasaur's bulb barely reached her knees and it focused calm eyes on Leaf as she kneeled down to talk to it. Gary's squirtle was a bit taller than bulbasaur, easily reaching Gary's, who was taller than Leaf by a few inches, upper knee as it stood in its two hind legs. Gary didn't get down on its level to talk to it but he had the friendliest expression Ash had seen on his face as he talked down at the squirtle, who was looking up at Gary eagerly.

Ash took a deep breath in order to settle his nerves before releasing his pokemon. Charmander was a few inches taller than Gary's squirtle and mostly possessed rich orange colored scales along its body while the scales of its chest, belly and undertail possessed a light tan color. The claws on its forepaws had to be an inch long while the ones on its hindlegs had to be a little longer. The brightly burning orange-red flames on the tip of its tail matched the determination it possessed on its deep blue eyes.

Ash kneeled down and he smiled, careful to not show teeth, when Charmander's eyes focused on him. "Hello there. My name is Ash Ketchum and I'm your new trainer. Do you know what that means?" Ash asked and after a moment Charmander grunted while nodding its head once. Ash's smile widened but still he didn't show any teeth. Charmander would take that as a sign of aggression and challenge and he absolutely didn't want that. "Great. Now that you know who I am, what do say about becoming partners and helping each other become the strongest we can be?"

After his hopeful question, Ash only had to wait a few moments for Charmander's response. After locking eyes with him for what Ash felt like an eternity, Charmander growled and bared its teeth in what Ash recognized was a grin as it nodded its head repeatedly. Now that Charmander had seemingly accepted, Ash allowed himself to grin right back and he reached forward to gently pat Charmander on the head. The fire lizard seemed to like it as it closed its eyes and let out a soft growling sound that almost sounded like a feline purr. It was strangely adorable.

Oak cleared his throat and the three newbie trainers looked up to see the old professor looking at them with approving eyes. "That went extremely well, but considering that I chose to sponsor you, it is to be expected," he said and Ash was reminded that Professor Oak had his moments in which it was obvious from whom Gary had gotten most of his attitude from. "Now, if you could return them back to their pokeball please? I'd like to finish sending you off so I can get back to my work."

The three of them nodded and after a promise of letting them out shortly, the three pokemon were returned in to their pokeballs in flashes of transparent reddish energy.

After that was done, Oak approached them and handed to each one of them a rectangular device and five pokeballs. Leaf's was green with pink accents, Gary's was blue with yellow accents and Ash's was red with black accents. "Those are your pokedexes. They have recorded in them all the information you'd need on pokemon from the Kanto and Johto region and a significant amount on pokemon from the Hoenn and Sinnoh regions. They will also work as your Official League Issued IDs which means that they are irreplaceable so take good care of them. I have taken the liberty of setting them up with your basic information so you can start exploring all its features right away.

And finally, those are five standard pokeballs. Remember that the six pokemon limit is only temporary and it will increase to eight when you possess four major badges, to ten when you possess six major badges and to twelve when you get all eight major badges. Any pokemon you capture beyond your current limit will be sent directly to me. Understood?" When they all nodded he continued. "That will be all. I wish you the best on your journey. Ash, if you can spare a few minutes? I'd like to have a word."

Leaf looked at Ash curiously while the black-haired boy himself gave Gary a curiously look, silently asking if he knew what this was about. Gary scoffed before shaking his head, making Ash scowl at him. Gary snorted before giving a wave to his grandfather and quickly walked out of the room. Ash turned towards Leaf and shrugged. The girl shook her head in exasperation before she bowed towards the Professor, then waved cheerly at Ash before she walked out of the office too.

"What did you need to talk about with me, Professor Oak?" Ash asked the moment they were alone.

"It's about your starter pokemon."

Ash's eyes grew worried when he heard this. "Charmander? Is there something wrong with it?"

Oak blinked before he chortled a bit, immediately calming Ash down without even saying anything. "Nothing of the sorts, Ash. Quite the contrary actually. He, for your charmander is a male, is easily one of the healthiest examples of his species I have seen. You don't have to worry about anything on that front regarding Charmander as long as you take proper care of him, as I know you will," assured anyways the Professor.

"Thank Mew," muttered Ash in relieve before he gave the Professor a curious look. "If there's nothing wrong with Charmander, what about him you wanted to talk to me about?"

Oak clasped his hands behind his back. "I just wanted to make you aware of just how special your charmander is, Ash. Can you please release him?" Ash nodded and with a press of a button and a flash of white, Charmander materialized. Ash smiled down at him and Charmander responded with a barking growl of his own. "Now scan him with your pokedex. Just flick it open, point the scanner at Charmander and press the biggest button left to the lower screen."

Ash did as he was instructed and he was rewarded with a soft ding as Charmander looked at the device on his trainer's hand curiously before tilting his head a bit to try and sniff it. A soft, mechanical androgynous voice spoke from the speakers of the pokedex as an image of charmander appeared on the upper screen while the lower screen displayed several options with sections regarding information about Charmander.

 _ **Charmander. The lizard pokemon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when a charmander is enjoying itself. If the pokemon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely. Obviously prefers hot places. When it rains, steam is said to spout from the tip of its tail. The flame on its tail also indicates a Charmander's life force. If it is healthy, the flame burns brightly. If it is weak, the flame also burns weakly. Its life would end if the flame were to go out.**_

 _ **This charmander is a male and possesses the ability known as Blaze. It knows the moves scratch, ember, growl and smokescreen. It possesses the egg moves flare blitz and dragon rush but they have not been unlocked yet.**_

Ash blinked once.

Twice.

He turned towards the amused looking Professor. "Flare blitz _AND_ dragon rush? What… how…" Ash knew about two of the most powerful fire and dragon techniques respectively and what they were capable off when learned even to a mediocre degree. The fact that his charmander had the innate potential to learn not only one but both of them was almost too much to digest.

Seemingly understanding the situation, Charmander growled and puffed up his little chest in pride.

Oak chuckled. "Well, as you might know, it has been long since confirmed that some pokemon are known to inherit the potential to learn a technique that has been perfected by their parent. It is a genetical wonder that it is still being investigated, despite the years that has passed since the confirmation of this phenomenon. In any case, Charmander here has inherited the potential to learn quite the powerful techniques from each of his parents."

Ash looked down at the still humorously flexing Charmander before turning towards Oak with both eyebrows raised. "Just who are his parents?"

Oak chuckled again. "You actually know them. Charmander's parents are Maya, my dragonite, and Magnus, my charizard."

Ash's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?" He asked almost flatly.

Oak grinned and he raised a hand with one finger held up as if he was about to impart a lesson. "Yes. You see, when pokemon of different genders share at least one egg group and they…"

"I know how pokemon reproduction works, Professor! I don't need a biology lesson!" Exclaimed Ash, an embarrassed blush appearing across his cheeks. Charmander, who stopped his posing, titled his head and looked up at his trainer in confusion.

Oak chuckled. "I know, I know. I was just teasing. You scored perfectly in the written portion of the PTLEs after all. Not even Gary can claim that," he muttered at the end but Ash still heard him. Oak sobered up and he locked eyes with Ash, who straightened up due to the serious expression on Oak's face. "Now, while this gives Charmander the ability to learn dragon type techniques easier and the potential grow in strength even further than each of his parents, I must warn you. With his dragon blood no longer as diluted, his stubbornness and aggressiveness will be considerably higher than normal the moment he starts evolving. I suggest you bond as much as you can with him while he is in this state to prevent any problems further ahead. Do you understand?"

Ash nodded his head sharply. "Crystal clear, sir!"

"Good." Oak nodded before waving him off with an encouraging smile. "Now, off with you. I have important research that requires my undivided attention."

* * *

With Charmander having seemingly no issues in keeping up with him by his side, Ash was making his towards his house from Professor Oak's lab.

After being mildly surprised about the fact that Gary had not been waiting for him outside of his grandfather's lab so they could have their first official pokemon battle, Ash felt grateful for it. While he couldn't wait to direct Charmander, his first pokemon and partner, in battle he felt that he needed to learn a bit more about Charmander and bond with him, the Professor's words clearly resounding in his mind, before starting to battle with him.

It was the reason why Ash had decided to keep him out of his pokeball during the short walk from the Professor's lab to his home. Pallet Town wasn't exactly a big settlement and everything was at a comfortable walking distance from any point and everyone pretty much knew everyone. Due to the time it currently was there were only a few people walking down the roads, so Ash and Charmander were only subjected to a few odd, but amused and fond, looks from people.

While they walked, Ash shared with Charmander his dream to surpass all the strongest and most famous trainers in the world, to be recognized as the strongest of them all. Charmander in turn, in his language of grunts, growls, snarls, hisses and barking growls also attempted to share his own dream. Even though he couldn't directly understand Charmander, Ash got the gist of it. Charmander wanted to become a charizard powerful enough to defeat his parents in combat at the same time.

It was in that moment that Ash and Charmander reached an understanding. The both of them had dreams that almost everyone would consider impossible to reach and currently they only had each other's help to accomplish those dreams. This resulted in Ash and Charmander realizing that the two of them not only had dreams that could be easily tied with one another but they both also had something to prove to the entire world.

And they would.

Ash and Charmander reached his house: a medium sized two floor affair with a decently sized garden on the front and a wide backyard on the back. It was painted mostly white and light yellow while the roof had a rust color.

Ash and the fire lizard crossed the door of the fence and Ash waved at Mimey, his mother's Mr. Mime, who was using his psychic powers to water all of his mother's plants and flowers at the same time using five watering cans that were floating while being outlined by the same glowing bluish color that shone in Mimey's eyes. When the Mr. Mime sent a friendly wave in Charmander's direction, the fire lizard grunted a greeting of his own.

Ash stepped into his house. "Mom! I'm back!" He announced his presence to his mother loudly.

"I am in the kitchen, honey!"

"Alright!" Ash answered before turning to look down at Charmander. "C'mon. Let's introduce you to my mom so we can leave as soon as possible!"

Charmander nodded and grunted, following Ash dutifully.

Stepping into the kitchen, which was easily the most modern room in the house, which wasn't surprising, considering that as a professional chef his mother only worked with state-of-the-art culinary equipment, Ash and Charmander saw Ash's mother and Pomey, his mother's Ambipom, carefully cleaning the kitchen with smiles on their faces.

Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum, was a youthful and beautiful woman that possessed mature facial features. She had brown hair and matching eyes. She currently wore a simple blouse and knee length skirt underneath an apron. Ash snorted at the sight of Pomey wearing a matching apron.

The sound Ash made was enough to tell Delia that her son had come to the kitchen after she responded to his announced arrival and she turned towards him after putting her cleaning utensils down only to squeal in delight when she saw the absolutely adorable (to her) fire lizard standing next her son with confused expression on his face.

Delia rushed towards Charmander and ignored his almost indignant squawk after she picked him up by grabbing him with both hands under his arms. "Oh, Ashy! I'm glad you got the pokemon you wanted and not only that, it's so cute," she gushed before pressing Charmander into her bosom, being mindful of his flaming tail as he squirmed. The squirms stopped and Charmander began to purr in pleasure as she began to softly scratch his back and the back of his head. "He looks kind of familiar though," she mused absently.

Ash blinked at the sight of what he knew as quite the prideful charmander becoming a pile of flaming and purring orange and tan goo under his mother's ministrations. Ash filled that for later and nodded at her. "Yeah. Thankfully, Leaf chose the bulbasaur and since Gary was dead set on a squirtle, that left Charmander for me, who was the one I kind of wanted in the first place. Also, he looks familiar because I'm sure that you have seen him before. He is the offspring of Maya and Magnus, the Professor's dragonite and charizard."

Delia blinked. "Oh. That explains why he looked so familiar. I have taken care of him a few times before in the past. Now that I think about it, he hatched around the time you had your thirteenth birthday about three months ago! It's almost like you were destined to be together. Although, considering his rather special status, I'm a bit surprised Professor Oak would give him out as a starter," she mused as she put Charmander down, who looked a bit disappointed the pampering had stopped before getting a hold of himself and walking towards Ash after grunting indignantly at Delia, who just giggled and cooed at him, much to Charmander's mostly fake annoyance.

Pomey snickered in amusement in the background as he continued dutifully the cleaning duties skillfully using all of its appendages. It was a most impressive sight.

Also, Ash wasn't that surprised about how young Charmander was. All pokemon were ready to start battling and growing strong the moment they hatched out of the egg and Charmander was no different. From that moment on, the speed at which pokemon grew and evolved only depended in the species of pokemon, the amount of techniques they learned and how often they battled.

"So, Ashy, what are your plans?" Delia asked curiously, being extra careful to only show excitement for her son and not the sadness that she felt at watching him grow and go on his own journey. As his mother, giving him her full support in his endeavors was what she was supposed to do. Knowing Ash, he would worry and hesitate on leaving if he saw her sad, so she might as well resist crying her eyes out until after he left.

Ash rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "Well, I was planning on heading towards Pewter City first. There is no way I'm going to challenge Giovanny at Viridian and he only accepts challenges from trainers with seven major badges anyways, so the point is moot. I am sure I can catch one or two more pokemon and train them enough to be able to face Brock at Pewter for my first major badge. Then I'll head towards Cerulean City through Mt. Moon and challenge the Waterflower sisters for my second major badge after training my team for a bit. After that is either Celadon City or Vermillion City. I guess I'll make up my mind when I'm there."

Delia, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling that Ash mentioning Giovanni's name so casually brought up, smiled at him. "You are planning on going for all the major badges in order to qualify for the Indigo Conference then, huh?"

Ash nodded his head resolutely. "Of course. There is a reason why they are regarded as major gyms and it is not only because they are located on the main cities in Kanto. It's because they also give trainers the toughest challenges according to their level. If we don't challenge ourselves and put ourselves in situations that will test our limits then we will not grow and never reach our dreams, am I not right, Charmander?"

The fire lizard responded by giving one his barking growls as he nodded his head in agreement with Ash's words.

Delia chuckled and shook her head fondly. "Boys," she muttered, giggling when Ash stuck his tongue out at her childishly in response. "In any case, remember that you don't have to rush anything. You have, after all, around twenty-two months before the next Indigo Conference. That doesn't mean you get to slack off but that you get to also enjoy yourself during your journey."

Since it was the same administration that was in charge for both the Indigo Conference in Kanto and the Silver Conference in Johto, and those two events, which were the biggest ones during the year for each region, took a long time, dedication and coordination to organize, it was decided, for the sake of convenience and effectiveness, that each conference will be held every two years, making it so there was one conference each year instead of two.

Thankfully for Ash, this year's conference had been the Indigo one and it had happened a month after he had turned thirteen years old, which was roughly the time it always happened ever since he could remember. With the PTLEs happening a month after the Conference, everything lined up perfectly to give Ash almost two year to prepare for the next Indigo Conference.

While he could aim for the Silver Conference in Johto, he decided that it wouldn't be worth the hassle. Not only would he have to travel to another region altogether, no matter the fact that he could literally make the journey on foot, specially from Pallet Town, but there was also the fact that it would give him less than a year to travel the Johto region collecting badges and training his pokemon.

If he was honest with himself, Ash preferred a hundred times over having to wait almost two years to participate in a nation-wide competition and take his time building and training his team while not rushing his journey over the option that involved participating on the next Silver Conference, which was due to happen in about nine months.

Ash nodded in understanding at his mother. "I know mom. I will take my time and make sure my future partners are well cared for and trained correctly so we can become the best that we can be by the time the Indigo Conference comes around while also enjoying my journey," he assured his mother, while reaching down to gently rub Charmander's head, who grunted in agreement.

Delia nodded. "That's all I can ask, Ashy," she said before reaching into a pocket of her skirt and producing a sleek looking metal watch with a mainly black with red accents color scheme. "Here. Take this as a parting gift."

Ash's eyes widened as he took the very high-tech looking watch from his mother. "This is…" he trailed off in disbelief as he held the device in his hand.

Delia's eyes gleamed in delight. "Yup. The latest X-Transceiver model shipped directly from Unova but set up with Kanto's specifications," she declared proudly as she watched her son eagerly strapping the smartwatch around his left wrist. In her opinion, it went well with his outfit which consisted of a white and red cap that hid his untamable mop of jet black hair, a sleeveless red jacket with white collar he wore zipped up about halfway up over a short sleeved black shirt, the black pokemon trainer belt that had magnets for pokeballs at the sides, the blue cargo pants and the red and black tennis shoes.

"Despite the rather… strained… relationship Kanto/Johto has with Unova, business is still business. A dear friend of mine that lives there has a few connections that made the acquisition of the latest model a walk in the park. To be truthful, getting it here was the hardest part," said Delia a touch smugly as she smiled at Ash.

Charmander tilted his head to the side in confusion as he watched his trainer look at the metal thingy wrapped around his wrist in wonder. He grunted questioningly.

Unknowingly, Ash responded to Charmander's question as he began to speak. "The latest model of the X-Transceiver not only works as a watch, map and phone capable of fourway videocalls at the same time, but it also has many apps anyone would find useful such as the news and weather apps. It can also connect to the pokenet from everywhere in the world without issues. It can also shoot high quality pictures and videos and has an internal memory of one terabyte. And if that isn't enough, the X-Transceiver can be used to display my OLI ID too! Mom! This is the best gift ever! Thank you!"

Ash declared with a beaming smile before he jumped towards Delia and gave her a fierce and loving hug, making Delia giggle as she returned the hug just as fiercely. Pomey and Charmander exchanged looks. While Charmander grunted questioningly before tilting his head to the side in confusion, Pomey shrugged his shoulders and chittered something at an almost too fast pace. After a few moments Charmander nodded and grunted in understanding.

After a few moments o hugging his mom in both gratitude and goodbye, Ash pulled away and smiled up at his mother, who was still a few inches taller than him. "I'm going to head off now, mom. I'll make sure to make you proud!"

Delia smiled softly at him. "Oh, Ashy, but you already have! The only thing that would make me prouder would be to see you achieving your dreams, which I know you will," she said before pausing for a moment and slowing her smile to widen. "Now, don't let this old woman hold you off longer! Go get your backpack and off with you young man! I expect you to call me at least weekly or every time you are in a major city or any time something worth informing me happens, okay?"

Ash nodded his head with a smile. "Of course, mom! I promise to never go longer than a week without calling you!"

"Good!" Delia nodded before turning around and waving him off. "No off with you! I have a kitchen to clean and you a journey to begin!"

"Right! Bye mom! Call you when I reach Viridian City! Let's go Charmander! I'll show you my room and then we can head out!"

Charmander's answering growl matched the excitement in Ash's voice.

As Delia heard her son go upstairs to look for his backpack, followed by his starter pokemon, only Pomey, who used one of his tails to pat her in a comforting manner while softly chittering, witnessed the tears of both happiness and sadness that trailed down her face.

* * *

"I think we should rest there," said Ash while pointing towards a particularly large tree located a few dozen yards away of the main road of Route 1, which was the name of the semi-civilized path that connected Pallet Town with Viridian City. It was filled with mostly plains but one could find a few small forests and rivers too the further into the wilderness one went.

Charmander grunted in acceptance.

Ash smiled down at the fire lizard who showed no signs of discomfort or exhaustion at having been walking without stopping for the last three hours. They had left Pallet Town at about nine in the morning and it was now noon. Ash was feeling a bit hungry and he was sure that Charmander was too, so he decided that it would be the best time to take a break. They were going to reach Viridian tomorrow whether they stopped or not so there wasn't a need to rush.

A few spearow and rattata had approached them with less than friendly intentions in their eyes but a surprisingly intimidating growly from Charmander, backed up by his tail flame flaring up a bit, drove them off before they could become an issue. They had also come across a few pidgey but they all had flew off after catching sight of Ash and Charmander.

The two of them finally reached the tree and Ash took off his yellow and black backpack and he gave a sigh of relief as he took a seat and leaned his back against the surprisingly cool bark of the tree. Charmander made a similar sound as he also sat on his back, showing that while he hadn't been showing sign of exhaustion, he was certainly feeling the effects of walking for so long.

Ash felt like he was starting to understand his starter a little better. The core of Charmander's personality was pride and a drive to be the strongest of his kind in the future. This also resulted in Charmander detesting showing anything that could be perceived as weakness on his part. Despite Professor Oak's warnings, Ash felt like he could certainly work with that.

Ash put his backpack in between his legs and opened the frontmost and smallest compartment and reached into it, his upper limb going into it almost halfway up to his forearm, which would have been physically impossible had it not been for the technology waved into the backpack. Ash didn't really understand all the technicalities and scientific formulas that went into it, but he understood that it worked pretty similar to how pokeballs worked. It even maintained a constant weight of thirty pounds, which wasn't that much considering the sheer number of things he would be able to store, and, since those things would be in suspended animation while inside the backpack, everything was preserved.

Ash pulled out four ham and cheese sandwiches that Delia had prepared for him and he gave two of them to Charmander, who growled gratefully at him before he began to dig in with gusto. Ash then pulled out two bottles of lemon flavored water and put one, after uncorking it open, next to Charmander, who was almost purring in delight at the taste of his sandwich as he devoured them, before he began to eat his own lunch.

That reminded Ash that he needed to acquire 'real' food for Charmander as soon as possible. After a bit of research, Ash had determined the best meal plan for Charmander would be mix the pokemon food developed by the League that contributed carbs, fats and proteins with spicy wild berries which were the ones generally preferred by fire-type pokemon. He left his plan fairly open to change so he could adjust it to Charmander's preferences when he learned them.

Also, Ash knew that a good quality meal plan for his future team was not going to be exactly cheap but he wasn't too worried about it since, as a trainer, he was bound to earn more than enough money for such things. Monetary compensation for the winners in pokemon battles between League sanctioned trainers was quite the motivator for not slacking off as a pokemon trainer.

He had also started out with three thousand poke credits, more than enough to get supplies for his trip to Pewter City… if it was only Charmander and him. While Ash was not about to throw a pokeball at anything that moved, he hoped to catch two more pokemon and train them, along with Charmander, before challenging Brock at Pewter. It wasn't like he was extremely picky, but he did have a few standards when selecting future members of his team.

"Alright, Charmander. I believe our lunch has settled in nicely so what do you say about a bit of training, eh? I'd like to see how you use your techniques before we start battling wild pokemon and other trainers," said Ash as he smiled at the fire lizard.

Charmander, who had been chewing on the empty bottle that had contained the delicious liquid that he had used to wash down the even more delicious food, growled in acceptance as his deep blue eyes gleamed in excitement as he shot to his feet.

Ash laughed in delight. "I like that attitude of yours," he said before picking up the used wattle bottles and putting them in his backpack. He was not about to pollute the environment leaving inorganic waste after all. Ash stood up and walked away from the tree before pointing at it. "Let's start with scratch. Use it against the bark."

Charmander growled before he brandished the claws of his right forepaw, which gleamed wickedly, before he lashed out diagonally towards the bark of the innocent tree. Ash's eyebrows rose in appreciation when he saw the half an inch claw marks that were left in the wake of Charmander's attack.

"Nice," he complimented, resulting in Charmander puffing up his chest in pride. Ash chuckled. "Alright, alright. Now, try growl."

Unlike the other times Charmander had growled today, this time it was noticeably deeper and there was a certain weight to it that had Ash shuddering slightly. Ash knew that the move targeted the primal instincts of pokemon weaker, or at the same general level, of the user of the technique, making them hesitant to attack. It could be useful during low level battles.

Ash nodded at Charmander, doing his best to now show that he had been mildly affected by the move. It would be detrimental to show any weakness in front of a pokemon as prideful as Charmander. "Good, good. Now let's see your smokescreen."

Charmander opened his maw wide and Ash watched as cloud of inky black smoke was spewed from it. He idly noted that it smelled a lot like a burning matchstick but significantly more intense and the cloud was thick enough to prevent Ash from seeing the parts of the trees it covered even if he was only standing a few yards away from it. The technique could be extremely useful too.

After the smoke was dispersed by the light breeze after a few moments, Ash nodded at Charmander with a smile. "Let's see your ember now."

Charmander grunted before he did something that surprised Ash. Instead of opening his maw to use the technique, Charmander gave a light jump before twirling around while lashing out with his tail. From the flaming tip of his tail, several small embers shot towards the tree. They struck the bark with small explosions of fire and smoke. Ash saw that while they didn't set the tree on fire, the scorch marks they left on the bark were quite significant.

That, however, gave Ash an idea…

"Hey, Charmander, have you ever tried to use that technique like you use smokescreen?" He asked and Charmander responded with a shake of his head and small growl. Ash nodded towards the tree. "Try it."

Charmander growled again, this time in acceptance, before rearing his head back and opening his mouth. Ash only had time to catch sight of a few small tongues of flames trailing out of the corners of Charmander's maw before the fire lizard brought his head forward and released, with a snarl, a ball of fire the size of a small basketball directly towards the tree.

Ash and Charmander, both with wide eyes, watched as the blazing ball of fire struck the tree with enough force to make it shake significantly and with an explosion of fire and smoke that momentarily hid half of the tree's bark from their view. When the smoke clearly, Ash's eyes widened even further when he saw that the bark had caught fire.

"Oh, crap!"

Charmander watched as his trainer began to frantically do his best to quench the flames that resulted from the technique his trainer's suggestion brought to life. As he heard his trainer cursing as he tried to not get burned as he put down the fire, Charmander couldn't help but let out a sound that suspiciously resembled snickering.

* * *

After successfully preventing a forest fire, without Charmander's help whom had been busy laughing at him to help much too his annoyance, the Pallet Town native and the fire lizard continued their journey through Route 1.

While they didn't encounter any trainer that wanted to battle, they kept running into the aggressive spearow and rattata. This time, instead of scaring them off, Charmander allowed them to get close so he could fight them. The fights, if they could be called that, weren't too difficult and it only took Charmander getting two or three direct hits using scratch and/or ember to defeat them. Fireball, which was how he named the technique that resulted from Charmander using ember through his maw, could one-shot them easily.

Ash made sure to leave the unconscious rattata and spearow partly hidden in the tall grass of the sides of the main road. Pokémon were tougher than what non pokemon trainers gave them credit for and unless the injuries they sustained were fatal or crippling, it wouldn't take them much to regain their health naturally. The injuries Charmander dealt to the pokemon he fought were light at the worst, so it would only take those pokemon a few hours to regain consciousness and their complete health, so he didn't feel guilty about not catching any of them or healing them.

Ash also used these short and easy fights to get used to see in which ways Charmander was comfortable fighting in preparation for when he started meeting trainers that had trained pokemon of their own. Ash was glad to see that Charmander liked fighting both from afar and up close and that his inherent pride didn't make him feel disgust from using tactics such as covering himself with smokescreen to make it more difficult for his foe to hit him.

If Ash understood it right, Charmander prided himself in _everything_ he could do to make himself superior to his foes. Smokescreen was a technique that he knew how to use, and since he could use it to gain an advantage over the ones he was fighting, then it was more than okay to use it. Ash believed that he had never seen a more pragmatic pride before, but if he was honest, it kind of suited Charmander and not limiting himself from doing certain things will only help Charmander realize his dreams faster. Ash could definitely work with that.

"I think we should camp here," suggested Ash as he checked the map app on his X-Transceiver. According to the clock of his mother's gift, it had been about six hours since he had stopped for lunch, tested Charmander's moves and almost caused a forest fire when he had accidentally developed a new move. They have been walking and fighting wild rattata and spearow nonstop for that amount of time. Ash himself was feeling the burn on his legs and he could see that Charmander was also a bit tired despite his stubborn attempts to not appear so.

According to the map, they had made more than half the trip, meaning that they should be arriving to Viridian sometime around noon if they woke up with the sunrise. Luckily, the X-Transceiver also came with an alarm function, meaning that he could set up the time at which he would like to get up.

Ash looked up towards the side of the main road and smiled when he saw few camping tables a few dozen feet away from it. While Route 1 only had two of those, other larger and more occupied Routes possessed many camping sites such as these that trainers could use to take a break while on the road during the day or spend the night. Ash was about to do the latter.

"C'mon, Charmander," said Ash and his mouth twitched as he tried to do as if he had not seen Charmander almost sagging in relief.

The two of them were about two dozen feet away from the closest table when suddenly a brown and tan blur shot out from one of the trees and landed on said table facing them. Ash's eyes widened, as Charmander stood almost protectively in front of him with a snarl, when he saw the biggest pidgey he had seen today looking at him and Charmander almost imperiously from its perch on the table.

"That's one big bird," muttered Ash in amazement. Normally, pidgey possessed around one foot in height and weighted around four pounds. This one was almost as tall as Charmander, meaning twice as big as a normal pidgey, and its weight more than likely reflected that. It responded to Charmander's snarl with a surprisingly deep chirp and spreading its wings, showing that its wings spawn had to be of a least four feet from tip to tip while continuing to glare at them imperiously.

After seeing the size of the pidgey and it showing a different attitude from the ones they'd seen so far, Ash made his decision.

"I'm going to catch it. Are you up from one more fight, Charmander?" Ash asked his starter as a grin began to appear across his face.

Charmander snarled and a similar expression appeared across his own reptilian face before grunting his affirmation.

The pidgey, unimpressed, chirped and flapped its wings almost warningly.

"Use ember!"

Charmander growled before hopping to the air and twirling around and sending the small embers directly towards the pidgey. After so many fights today, his accuracy with the attack, which had been already decent, had increased even more. The pidgey, however, showed that its bulk didn't affect its speed as it evaded the attack by flapping its wings once and taking to the air in one smooth motion.

With another chirp, the pidgey circled around before starting to fly towards Charmander many times faster than any of the spearow they had faced today with a few streaks of white energy trailing on its wake. Ash recognized the technique immediately.

"That's quick attack. Try to dodge it, Charmander!" Ash shouted as he moved away since he was also on the pidgey's path because Charmander was directly in front of him.

The fire lizard did his best to jump away too but he was clipped by one of Pidgey's wings as he was unable to evade the attack entirely. Charmander snarled in both pain and anger as the pidgey circled around and chirped almost mockingly at Charmander before moving to attack the fire lizard in the same manner as before.

"Focus, Charmander! Use smokescreen! And prepare to use Fireball!" Ash told him, having gotten an idea on how they could win this. The pidgey had the advantage as long as it could keep flying.

Charmander did as told and he released a thick cloud of smoke that covered his form completely before the pidgey reached him. Ash watched in satisfaction as the pidgey adjusted its course and passed above the cloud of smoke instead of through it having lost sight of its target. High in the air again, the pidgey let a frustrated sounding chirp before it began to flap its wings rapidly while facing the cloud of smoke.

Ash's eyes widened when the pidgey began to generate winds strong enough to start pushing the thick clouds of smoke way. "It knows gust too?!" Ash exclaimed, impressed. The longer the fight continued, the bigger was his desire to catch the pidgey. Ash watched as the smokescreen was dispersed and he grinned when he saw that Charmander was ready to unleash Fireball. "Wait for my signal, Charmander!"

The fire lizard acknowledged Ash's words with a grunt.

When the smoke was dispersed, the pidgey gave a triumphant sounding chirp before it used quick attack for the third time in a direct path towards Charmander.

That was what Ash was waiting for. "Now!"

With another snarl, Charmander released the small basketball sized fireball directly towards the incoming pidgey. The bird's eyes widened almost comically as it saw this but its momentum, along with the speed of Charmander's attack, prevented it from swerving out of the way to evade the small ball of flames. It collided with the incoming pidgey directly and a small explosion of fire and smoke resounded as a result.

"Yes!" Ash hissed in victory as his strategy worked almost exactly as he envisioned it.

Not a moment later, a significantly scorched pidgey fell to the ground with smoke trailing off its falling form. It released a pitiful sounding chirp when it smacked against the ground back first, thankfully not landing on any of his wings and injuring them even further. Ash was pleasantly surprised when it began to tiredly struggle to right itself.

"This one is quite tough," complimented Ash since it was the first pokemon to take Charmander's fireball without getting knocked out with one shot. Not only that, but the blow had been even stronger due to it having taken the hit while carrying the no insignificant momentum of quick attack and if that wasn't enough, it had also fallen to the earth quite roughly.

Ash quickly snatched one of the pokeballs that Professor Oak had given him, enlarged it and chucked it towards the pidgey. The technology of the activated pokeball detected the wild pokemon and its course adjusted slightly so it could smack against the still supine decubitus pidgey right in the chest area. The pokeball opened and sucked the pidgey inside in a flash of red energy before snapping close and falling to the ground just where the pidgey had been.

Ash held his breath as he watched the pokeball wiggling for a few moments before releasing it almost explosively when the pokeball stopped moving and dinged with the success of capture.

"Alright!" Ash cheered as the pokeball floated back to him and he snatched it from the air the moment it was within reach. Ash then jogged towards Charmander, who had sat down on the ground, and knelt next to the fire lizard while grinning down at him and patting his head. "You did excellent, Charmander! Thanks to you we have quite the strong friend in our team now! Isn't that fantastic?"

Charmander closed his eyes in enjoyment of Ash's patting of his head before grunting in agreement to his words.

"So, shall we meet them right away?"

Charmander nodded in agreement after a few moments before taking a few deep breaths and rising to his feet. He was not about to show that giant of a bird that he had just defeated any kind of weakness less it got the idea that it was his equal in strength. The only reason Charmander was this tired was because of all the walking and fighting he had done during the day after all.

Ash chuckled before he walked towards one of the tables and saw in one of its adjacent benches. He took off his backpack and pulled out from it one of the potions he had procured to use in case his starter got injured enough that it required medical attention and he was not close to Viridian. It seemed like he was instead going to use it on the first pokemon he ever caught. The thought filled him with excitement.

After getting everything ready, Ash released the pidgey on the table and Ash took a moment to admire its sheer size. Only when it chirped at him with some annoyance did he blink and locked eyes with it. The pidgey was sprawled on top of the table, still scorched, but the imperious expression was still in place. Charmander, who stood next to Ash on top of the bench, growled threateningly, daring the pidgey attempt and harm Ash.

The red eyed boy smiled pleasantly at the bird. "Hey there. My name is Ash. This is Charmander. After we fought and you lost, I captured you. That makes me your trainer. Do you know what that means?" Ash asked.

When Ash said it lost, the pidgey chirped indignantly before sending an indignant look towards Charmander, who looked down at it smugly while snickering. It turned towards Ash when he asked the question and shook its head slowly as its answer.

Ash's smile widened. "It means that we are a team now and that I am in charge of providing you with care in exchange for your obedience. This way, I can help you become the strongest pidgeot to ever soar the skies. What do you think?"

The pidgey once again looked indignant at the thought of being obedient to him despite him saying that he was also in charge of taking care of it. When he mentioned helping her to become the strongest pidgeot, the indignity turned to interest and it locked eyes with him. After a few moments, the pidgey turned questioningly towards Charmander. The fire lizard nodded before giving a few growls and grunts.

Ash grinned in delight when the pidgey turned towards him and nodded before chirping in acceptance. "Alright, welcome to the team, Pidgey!" Ash then grabbed the potion and showed it to pidgey, who looked at it warily. "I'm going to spray this all over your burns to make you heal faster. You'll be back to one hundred percent before you know it. I have to warn you, though, it will sting a bit."

Pidgey looked a bit unsure at the 'sting a bit' part but it nodded in acceptance. Ash carefully began to spray the potion on top pidgey's burns, feeling a bit guilty every time the bird closed its eyes sharply when it stung. Ash wasn't a chemist but he knew that potions somehow accelerated the rate of a pokemon's natural healing factor many times over, depending on the grade of the potion. It sapped their stamina to work, which was the reason why it was recommended to let a pokemon rest after using a potion on them.

While Pidgey sagged in relief as it felt its wounds healing, Ash pulled out his pokedex and pointed it at the avian, who perked up and gave the rectangular red and black device a suspicious and wary look. Ash smiled disarmingly. "Don't be nervous. This will only tell me a bit about yourself so I can start planning on the best way to make you stronger."

Pidgey chirped in understanding and nodded its head before letting it fall against the table again. Ash pressed the button to scan pidgey.

 _ **Pidgey. The tiny bird pokemon. Pidgey has an extremely sharp sense of direction. It is capable of unerringly returning home to its nest, however far it may be removed from its familiar surroundings.**_ _ **A common sight in forests and woods. It flaps its wings at ground level to kick up blinding sand. It is docile and prefers to avoid conflict. If disturbed, however, it can ferociously strike back.**_

 _ **This pidgey is a female and possesses the ability known as Keen Eye. It knows the moves tackle, quick attack, sand attack and gust. It possesses the egg move brave bird but has yet to be unlocked.**_

' _I don't know about the docile bit, but she is ferocious alright,'_ Ash thought with a snort of amusement. At Pidgey's look of confusion, he just shook his head before pocketing his pokedex. "Don't worry. I just thought something funny. Anyways, we are going to camp for the night and training starts tomorrow morning. Would you like to go back to your pokeball or sleep outside after eating?" asked Ash.

Pidgey perked up at the eating part before she lazily chirped and motioned towards one of the trees that surrounded the camping area. Ash took that as she wanting to stay outside. Then, much to Charmander's delight, Ash pulled out more ham and cheese sandwiches that he divided between the three of them. Ash and Charmander took two while to Pidgey one was seemingly enough. Having regained enough strength to stand on her own, Pidgey calmly and gracefully pecked at her sandwich while Ash and Charmander devoured theirs.

For some reason, Ash felt like Pidgey was giving the two of them looks of disgust when they were too focused on their sandwiches.

After they finished eating and could no longer ward off their tiredness with idle attempts of communication trying to get to know each other better, Ash pulled out his sleeping bag and set it on the ground. Charmander curled around next to it with his tail resting on top of his body in order to prevent setting the grass on fire. The warmth coming from Charmander was the reason why Ash decided to not start a fire. Pidgey, having regained a considerable amount of her health, made a short flight to the nearest tree and settled on a tree branch, hiding her head in one of her wings.

Ash for his part got as comfortable as he could on his sleeping bag before setting the alarm of his X-Transceiver for six in the morning. He then pulled out his pokedex and searched for section that had information on the pidgey evolutionary line. He already knew everything there was to know about the charmander line and while he knew the basics for the pidgey line, now that he had one of his own on his team, just knowing the basics was not going to cut it. He still had a few hours before he had to got to sleep in order to not wake up exhausted the next day after all and he was not about to let them go to waste.

* * *

The next day after waking up, Ash had Charmander and Pidgey run a few warm up drills in which he had them run, or fly in Pidgey's case, a few laps around the campsite and Ash joined them, believing that it would make them respect him more if they saw him training with them. After that he had them have a mock battle with the other using all their moves at least thrice. While this also worked as part of the warm up and morning workout, Ash also used the opportunity to familiarize himself with Pidgey's moves and how the avian preferred to fight.

Doing all of that had taken about an hour and then Ash fed them a few more sandwiches, Pidgey once again only eating one gracefully while Charmander inhaled two. By the time seven thirty in the morning had rolled around they were ready to continue making their way towards Viridian City. Since Ash was also planning on fighting as many trainers as he could on his way, he decided to keep the two members of his team inside their pokeball.

It didn't take them long to find their first opponent.

"Hey, you! Do you want to battle!" A youngster that was around Ash's age that had been walking around a few dozen feet away from the main road suddenly called to him while brandishing a pokeball. He had brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a shirt, shorts and a normal looking backpack.

Ash smiled while he grabbed Charmander's pokeball. "Sure. One on one?"

The brown-haired boy nodded as he pulled out what looked like a smartphone. "Sure. Standard rules?"

Ash nodded in agreement and he looked down at his X-Transceiver when it beeped. Ash raised it towards his face, ignoring the impressed look on his soon to be opponent's face when he saw his smartwatch, to see that he had received a one-on-one battle request from Jerry Thompson with standard regulations on the League App. Ash knew that the League issued tablets to all none sponsored trainers so they could keep track of everything related to their trainer license such as their rank, registered pokemon, the pokemon they had on hand and their current status, pokecredits, win/lose ratio, gyms that had been bested, etc. Ash quickly accepted the match, noting that the winner will be transferred two hundred pokecredits from the loser at the end of the battle.

"Go, Meowth!" Jack released a cat that had mostly light tanned fur on its body while its hind paws and the end of its curled tail possessed brown fur. Its face was oval shaped and its eyes wide with a completely black slit pupil. It had two whiskers on each side of its face and in between the two protrusions that originated from the top of its head in between its triangular ears, that had black and brown fur, there was cylindrical coin shaped ornament made out of what looked to be gold.

The meowth stood on four legs and it yawned almost lazily before looking at Ash with bored eyes.

Ash silently released Charmander, who snarled furiously the moment it caught sight of his opponent. When it caught sight of the fire lizard, the meowth lost its lazy disposition and looked significantly more focused.

Jack's eyes widened. "Woah! A Charmander!" He turned envious eyes towards Ash. "Are you one of the trainers Professor Oak chose to sponsor this year?"

Ash nodded. "Yes."

"Man, how lucky," said Jack.

Ash felt a pang of irritation at his words. _'Lucky? I worked my ass off studying all kinds of pokemon theory day and night, watched Mew knows how many battles between seasoned trainers and conditioned my body according to the requirements of the League ever since I was ten! How is that luck, huh?! I earned Professor Oak's sponsorship!"_ Ash thought in annoyance.

While Ash decided to not voice what he thought about Jack's words, Charmander felt the subconscious shift in Ash's disposition and his blue eyes narrowed as his snarl intensified, much to the visible consternation of the meowth and Jack's confusion.

The brown-haired trainer shook his head before grinning. "Alright then! I'll start! Meowth, get in close and use bite!"

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Don't let it. Use ember."

The meowth began to run directly towards Charmander at speeds that matched Pidgey when she used her quick attack, its fangs gleaming as it opened its maw in preparation to follow its trainer's orders. Charmander, however, had other ideas. With a grunt, the fire lizard hopped and twirled around, releasing the small embers of fire directly towards the meowth.

The scratch cat pokemon couldn't evade the attack due to its momentum and it took the small balls of fire head on, hissing in discomfort and pain as its previously pristine fur was marred with several light scorch marks. When the attack ended the meowth glared at the smug looking Charmander with hateful eyes as the fur on its back stood up to attention before it hissed dangerously.

"Meowth, try pay day!"

"Smokescreen. Jump out of the way and prepare Fireball."

The meowth's eyes before it stood in its hind legs and reached back to pull out round golden coins from… somewhere… that it began to hurl towards Charmander at quite the decent speeds. Only a few managed to hit Charmander in the chest and abdomen before he released a thick cloud of smoke that hid him from view and the sound of coins striking against scales could no longer be heard.

"Meowth! Stop! Wait until the smoke clears out and use fury swipes the moment it appears!" Ordered Jack.

It only took a few moments for the inky black smoke to disperse and when it did the hissing meowth charged towards Charmander with its claws brandished and gleaming with energy ready to the be used to slash repeatedly at the fire lizard.

Ash smiled. "Fireball," he said simply and Charmander threw his head forward to release the small ball of flames directly towards the incoming meowth. The eyes of the cat and its trainer widened at having made the same mistake twice and they only had time to realize it before it was too late. Charmander's attack collided with the meowth and its form was obscured by the resulting explosion of smoke and fire.

A moment later the deeply scorched form of the meowth was revealed struggling to keep itself on its feet. Ash nodded at it. "Finish it with scratch."

"Meowth! Use scratch too!" cried Jack desperately

Charmander ran towards the meowth at speeds that were significantly slower than that of his opponent, the claws of his forepaws ready to strike. The meowth did its best to follow its trainer's orders but its actions came sluggish and Charmander easily leaned away from its attack. With a snarl of victory, Charmander slashed his claws across the meowth's chest, making it give a cry of pain before it fell to the ground unconscious.

Ash grinned as he watched Charmander give one of his barking growls in victory as he stood next to the downed cat. "Excellent work, Charmander!"

The fire lizard turned towards his trainer and grunted cheerily before giving a fanged grin.

Jack sighed before returning his meowth back to its pokeball. He whispered his thanks before turning towards Ash with a sheepish expression on his face. "I guess I can see why you were chosen by Professor Oak," he conceded and Ash nodded at him as Charmander walked back to stand at his side. With another sigh, Jack pulled out his League issued tablet and confirmed his loss, grimacing a bit as he became two hundred pokecredits poorer. He turned towards Ash and saluted him. "That was a good battle. I'll see you around I guess," he said before turning around and running away.

Ash blinked before shrugging his shoulders. His X-Transceiver beeped again and he looked down to see that he needed to confirm his win and accept his earnings. When he did so he watched as his 'trainer card' updated, showing that he had one win and zero loses along with the display of the amount of pokecredits he possessed showing the two hundred he had won from the battle.

Idly, Ash checked the other features displayed by the League App. The general information screen displayed his full name, Ash Ketchum, followed by his trainer ID number, AK019910104, his age and date of birth, his place of precedence, Pallet Town, he fact that Professor Oak was his sponsor, his trainer rank, which was F, the lowest rank possible and the amount of pokecredits he possessed.

Ash knew that one's rank depended on the amount of official battles one had participated, the number of wins one had, the number of gyms one had conquered and how far one had gone in League sanctioned tournaments. Each accomplishment was worth a set amount of points and one needed to accumulate a certain amount of points in order to reach the next rank, with each following rank requiring significantly more points than the previous one. For example, the battle he just had had been worth ten points and he needed one thousand points in order to reach the E rank.

Ash spent a few minutes exploring the other features of the League App before a bored Charmander nudged him with his snout. Ash blinked before he looked down at Charmander, who had a mildly annoyed expression on his face, and smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. I got lost in thought a bit. I'll return you now and release you for another battle. We'll be doing that until we reach Viridian City, okay?"

Charmander grunted and nodded. Ash gave him another smile before he continued walking north towards his destination.

* * *

"So that's Viridian City, huh?" Ash mused to himself as he looked at the medium sized piece of civilization that stood a few hundred meters away from where he stood on the main road. With a small mountain range on the west, the immense expanse of the Viridian Forest to the north and a big, beautiful lake filled with crystal blue water to the east, Viridian City was quite the sight to behold from afar.

From where he stood, Ash could see that most buildings didn't rise beyond three or four floors in height in the outer parts of the city but the further downtown you went, the higher the buildings became. Even then, Ash could see that the tallest building couldn't have more than twenty stories.

With a smile on his face, Ash began to walk the final trek there.

As he walked, Ash thought about everything he had done in the past eight hours. It had taken him that long to reach Viridian City because he had accepted all and every challenge that had come his way from the few trainers that he had run across. Including the first trainer with the meowth, he had participated in six battles and one of them had been two-on-two and the others one-on-one.

He had won all of them without too much difficulty. Ash knew that the reason behind his streak was not only because both Charmander and Pidgey were naturally strong, but because of the level of preparation he had, the second-hand experience he had in pokemon battling after watching so many experienced trainers fight and the fact that he had only encountered newbie trainers just like himself.

Still, despite winning all his battles, Ash had learned a lot from them. Not did he know felt like he could tell accurately how both of his pokemon felt the most comfortable fighting, but he had also determined the aspects of training in which he was going to focus with each one of them.

Ash decided that both Charmander and Pidgey had to increase their strength, speed, reflexes and stamina since a strong foundation would make latter specializations more effective.

Technique wise, Ash felt that Charmander had to increase the power behind his fire attacks, learn metal claw and start harnessing his inherent draconic energy. It was plenty obvious why Charmander had to strengthen his fire attacks. Metal claw would be extremely useful when facing Brock, and certainly further into the future. And finally, the faster Charmander started using his draconic energy, which was both more abundant and more powerful than it would be on a charmander without his pedigree, the stronger and easier it would be to harness in the future. According to the pokedex, having Charmander learn Dragon Rage would be the best way to go around doing that.

There were a few techniques that Ash wanted Pidgey to learn before she evolved into a pidgeotto. The first ones would be agility and tailwind. The former would give Pidgey the ability to consciously increase her speed by enhancing everything about her and the latter would give her the ability to manipulate the air around her in a manner that would reduce the resistance it posed when she moved through the air, increasing her speed. The other techniques had to do more with dealing damage: wing attack and twister. The former would give her the option of using her wings as a means of attack and the latter, that consisted in harnessing the thin amounts of draconic energy in the air and shaping it into a twister that would be sent to her opponents, would give her the option of attacking at a distance.

Those were the plans Ash had for his team but he had to wait a bit before he could start implementing them. Ash first needed to reach the Viridian City Pokémon Center in order to give his tired team a check up and have them healed if they required it, as they had taken a few hits in the prior fights, and to register himself for the next Indigo Conference. While he could do it even the day before Conference began and it wouldn't affect him as long as he had beaten the number of League sanctioned gyms required to qualify, which was eight, he preferred to do so now and don't worry about it later.

Oh, he also needed to call his mother too. Couldn't forget that.

Ash felt that the two weeks, more or less, that he would spend crossing the Viridian Forest, if he didn't take a detour and kept a steady pace covering a certain number of kilometers each day, would be more than enough to prepare his team for their first gym battle. They were going to spend the day in Viridian hanging out, planning and getting the needed supplies and set out towards the Viridian Forest the first thing in the morning tomorrow.

"Halt!"

Ash blinked as the sharp feminine voice brought him out of his inner thoughts and his eyebrows raised into his cap when he saw that he had reached the gates of Viridian City without noticing it. He then focused on the one that called out to him and he blushed a bit when he saw the beautiful, but stern, visage that was a uniformed turquoise haired woman walking towards him with a purpose.

"Erm, is there a problem, Officer Jenny?" Ash asked law enforcer with some nervousness. Ash didn't know how it was possible, but there was an entire family of identical looking women affiliated with all the Regional Leagues that worked as the police force at each city. Those were the Jenny's. The same happened with the Joy's, which were the family in charge of seeing to everything that had to do with Pokémon Centers and pokemon healthcare.

There were many conspiracy theories around them, but Ash didn't bother too much with them. In a world filled with the wonderful creatures that were pokemon, he didn't feel like the bizarre genetic wonder that were the Officer Jenny's and the Nurse Joy's was anything to write home about. Now, if even one of those conspiracy theories turned out to be true…

Officer Jenny stood right in front of Ash with a stern expression on her face and hand of her hips. "That is what we are going to determine right now, young man. Are you a League sanctioned pokemon trainer?"

Ash nodded his head mutely.

"May I see your ID?"

"Of course," conceded Ash before he rose his arm and showed Officer Jenny his X-Transceiver and eyes widened a bit when she saw what had to be the latest model of the most popular smartwatch in Unova. Ash quickly accessed the League app and flipped the screen around so Officer Jenny could take a look. Ash watched as a few different expressions went across her face as she quickly read his general information before she tapped the screen once. When she did that, Ash watched as she sighed and visibly relaxed.

"I'm sorry about the trouble, Mr. Ketchum, but we've been having reports in the past few days about thieves stealing pokemon and other things from other trainers so we are checking everyone that goes in and out of the city," she explained and when Ash nodded she gave him a tight-lipped smile before motioning towards the urbanization behind her. "You may go and enjoy yourself. But, if you see anything suspicious, please report it to the Police Station."

Ash nodded at her. "I will, Officer Jenny. And it was no trouble at all. You are just doing your job."

The smile on the blue haired woman's face became a bit more genuine at his words before she shooed him away. Ash tipped his cap to her before making his way into the city proper.

It didn't take long for Ash to reach the pokémon center and it wasn't because Viridian City was a medium sized city compared to the behemoths that were Cerulean City, Vermillion City, Celadon City and Saffron City. In order to make reaching them in case of emergencies, Pokémon Centers were located relatively close to the outskirts of any settlement that possessed one.

Pokémon centers, as League sanctioned facilities, were obliged to tend to sanctioned trainer's pokemon for free no matter what was needed in order to make sure a pokemon got out of a pokémon center as close as to full health could be achieved. Also, League sanctioned trainers could spend a relatively small amount of pokecredits to spend the night within the rooms inside the pokecenters and to eat from its cafeteria.

Viridian City's pokemon center was a fairly large structure painted white and red. Its architecture consisted of half dome that probably had the medical facilities, second and third floors of the pokemon center. The part that housed the reception desk, lobby/waiting area and cafeteria was not covered by the half dome. Its roof had a big 'P' painted on it and there was a big sphere of a matching color on the face of the half dome. There were many training fields and battling arenas behind the structure of the pokemon center too.

Ash went through the automatic doors when they opened and stepped into the lobby of the pokemon center. There were a decent number of trainers lounging around either watching the news, talking to each other or just apparently waiting to have their pokemon returned. As he walked towards the reception desk, Ash noticed that trainers that looked older than him only gave him a cursory glance while the ones that looked to be about his age gave him looks of interest.

He reached the front desk and he gave Nurse Joy, whom Ash noticed was as beautiful as Officer Jenny, a smile. "Good afternoon, Nurse Joy!"

She responded with a gentle smile of her own. "Good afternoon to you too, young man. How may I help you?"

Ash reached for the shrunken pokeballs of Charmander and Pidgey and put them on the counter. "I would like to get my pokemon checked. I'm sure they have not sustained significant injuries but we have been battling trainers for the last eight hours without stopping so I just want to make sure they are alright. I would also like to register myself for the Indigo Circuit. And finally, I'd like to book a room for tonight."

"Of course," she said before she grabbed the two pokeballs and put them on a tray. She then pressed one of many buttons on her working space and not a moment later a young man wearing scrubs came from the back and took the tray with him. "Your pokemon will be checked both by a specialist and by a machine in order to make sure we don't miss anything so it's going to take several minutes. Can I have your trainer ID number for your registration?"

Ash gave her his ID number, which he had memorized last night, and watched as she rapidly taped at her keyboard with dexterous fingers. A few moments later she finished and reached down towards a compartment and pulled out a badge case that she handed to him. "Your registration is complete and should you get eight official gym badges before the next Indigo Conference you will qualify to participate in it. While everything nowadays is done digitally, the League maintains certain traditions and you will receive actual badges from the gyms you beat." She then reached for another compartment and gave him a key card. "I also booked you a room. The fee is one hundred pokecredits."

Ash put the badge case inside his back pack and slipped the key card into one of his pants' pockets. He smiled at the pink haired nurse. "Thank you!"

Her gentle smile widened a bit. "It was no problem at all. I'll call your name over the speakers the moment we finish checking your pokemon."

Ash nodded at her once again in thanks before he walked away towards the many couches that were neatly scattered all over the lobby. He saw one that was both unoccupied and at a distance from other couches that would allow him some privacy. He was going to call his mother and bothering the other trainers with his conversation would be extremely rude after all.

The black haired pokemon trainer took his seat and when he was comfortable, he used his X-Transceiver to call his mother. She picked up just after the third ring. Her face had a pleasant expression that morphed into a wide grin the moment she caught sight of him.

"Ashy!"

Ash smiled at her. "Hey, mom. What's up?"

"I should be the one asking you that, mister," she teased before she began to five his background a look. "Are you in Viridian already? Did you catch another pokemon?"

Ash nodded with a chuckle. "I am and I have. I arrived to the pokemon center not even ten minutes ago and I caught quite the pidgey yesterday. We battled our entire way here today since the morning so they are being checked up right now."

Delia's eyes lit up and it seemed like her shoulders sagged in relief. "That's good to hear. Not two hours after you left Professor Oak received a report about a particularly powerful wild fearow that had made roost in Route 1 and had taken over the spearow, making them attack humans and other pokemon in large groups. He made a request for a trainer to take care of it but I was still worried about you."

Ash blinked. "While I did encounter a considerable mount of spearow on my way here, I didn't see anything like that. Perhaps it was taken care off right away," he mused with a shrug of his shoulders.

Delia nodded. "Perhaps," she conceded before her countenance grew excited. "So, you caught 'quite the pidgey'? What's so special about it?"

"Her," Ash corrected with a smile. "Well, first of all she is almost as tall a Charmander, making her almost twice as big as a normal pidgey with a weight that matched her height. Also, while normal pidgey are docile and prefer avoiding conflict, she was the one that challenged us to a battle. And finally, she knew quick attack and gust when I caught her."

Delia's eyes gleamed with interest. "Oh, wow! The pidgey around here normally know tackle and sand attack. And her size… is she perhaps close to evolving? Most pokemon start showing the characteristic of their next form when they are close to reaching it."

Ash shook his head. "Not really. I checked last night since I suspected the same thing. Her crest is the right size, relatively, compared to the rest of her body and it hasn't started to change color either. The same goes for her tail feathers. I doubt, however, that it would take long before she starts showing those changes considering she knows quick attack and gust."

"Mmmh, perhaps she has the elusive King's Nature?"

Ash's eyebrow rose a bit as he leaned back into the couch. "I knew I was forgetting to consider something. Do you reckon she has it? Her characteristics do point in that direction after all."

Delia nodded. "It's more than likely that it's the case. If when she reaches the pidgeot state she is still twice as big as any normal pidgeot has any right to be we can confirm it. That or you can have her genome tested in order to look for the genes associated with the King's Nature. It is expensive though."

Ash shook his head at the last bit. "I don't really care if I confirm it now or later. She has already proven herself as a worthy member of my team by not losing any of her battles and I like to think we work well together. I'd rather spend the money I earn on supplies to help me survive my journey and on things that would help me take care of my pokemon and grow as a trainer."

Delia nodded and gave him a pleased smile. "Well said," she stated before giving him a curious look. "So, you are going to Pewter City next, right? You have to go through the Viridian Forest. There are many types of pokemon there but bug types are the most prominent so you better stock on poison heals and other status curing items and berries."

Ash nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. I'll spend about two weeks there training, battling another training and seeing if I can catch at least on other pokemon that gets my interest. I'm going to spend the rest of the day stocking on everything I'll need for that duration and planning a training regime for Charmander and Pidgey. We will head out tomorrow first time in the morning."

"I see. That's a good plan. Don't forget to call me at least weekly even though I know you will be busy doing all of that, okay?"

Ash smiled a bit wryly. She had told him that before he left after all. "I promise mom. I will even put a reminder to call you every seven days on the calendar app," he said and he grew amused when his mother seemed very pleased with his words. Ash then perked up as he heard the voice of Nurse Joy calling his name and saying that his pokemon were ready for him. He focused on Delia. "I've got to go mom. Sorry to cut this short."

Delia smiled at him. "Don't worry about it, Ashy. I'm happy you remembered to call and tell me that you are okay. That is more than enough for me. Now go and give Kanto your best, honey!"

Ash grinned at his mother and said his goodbyes. After she did the same he ended the call and he stood up from the couch and stretched a bit while giving a sigh contentment.

Ash then walked towards the desk and he smiled at Nurse Joy who put the tray containing the pokeballs of his pokemon. "Was there anything wrong with them, Nurse Joy?"

She returned his smile. "Other than a bit fatigued due to the regular battles and a few non-serious bruises, that are already treated, here and there, both Charmander and Pidgey are in excellent health. I'd still suggest you let them rest for what's left of the day though."

Ash nodded and clipped the pokeballs back to the small magnets dedicated to them on his trainer belt. "I was planning on just stocking on supplies to spend two weeks in the Viridian Forest and resting for the rest of the day and leave tomorrow."

Nurse Joy hmmed at him. "Well, if that's the case, the pokemart should have everything you'd need," she suggested.

Ash smiled. "Thank you, Nurse Joy!"

"You are very much welcomed, young man. Make sure to not put too much strain on your pokemon and keep yourself safe."

Ash thanked her before he tipped his hat at her. He then turned around and walked out of the pokemon center. He was going to buy everything he would need for the Viridian Forest and explore Viridian City a bit. Despite not being near ready, or qualified, to challenge the Viridian City Gym, he wanted to take a look at it so he could better visualize one of his future short-term goals. And he had to enjoy his journey a, as much as he could after all.

* * *

Later that evening, after buying everything he would need for two weeks in the Viridian Forest, which has costed him two thousand pokecredits, and exploring a good chunk of the city, including the (in)famous Viridian Gym, Ash found himself inside his room at the pokecenter. He had been impressed by the massive structure and its design and seeing it in person had only motivated him further to become worthy to challenge the gym.

Th room he booked looked both simple and cozy at the same time. It possessed a queen-sized bed, a perch for bird pokemon, a few hooks inbedded to the wall to hang clothes, a window that gave him a decent look of Viridian City, an air conditioner and its own bathroom. He had already used the bathroom to wash himself, as he had not taken a shower since yesterday morning. The water, which he had set on room temperature, had felt particularly good.

Ash, wearing red shorts and a black loose tank top, sat on the edge of the bed as he held the pokeballs of Charmander and Pidgey. Since checking them up at the Pokémon Center, he had only released them when he spent about an hour inside the biggest park within Viridian City at the end of his impromptu auto-tour of the city. He was about to release them again since he knew they enjoyed sleeping outside of the pokeball better. That, and he needed to have kind of a talk with them.

In a flash of white, Charmander and Pidgey appeared on the floor in front of him making their respective sounds of greeting.

Ash smiled down at them. "Hey, you two. I've been thinking… and I wanted to ask you if you'd like to have a nickname?"

The response he got was cocked heads to the right in confusion.

Ash chuckled. "I mean, it is known that most pokemon are intelligent enough to understand human speech, which means that they have self-awareness. Usually, Pokémon are referred to with the name of their species and they are fine with it. A nickname is a way for to further identify yourselves, something that will help you differentiate yourself from other pokemon of the same species. What do you think?"

Both Charmander and Pidgey seemed to ponder for a moment before, with a grunt and a chirp respectively, they nodded their heads in acceptance.

Ash grinned. What he told them was only the first reason he wanted to give them nicknames. The second one would be that it'd help him bond with them even more and the third one would be that in the case he faced a pokemon of the same species as one of his own, they would not be confused when they were called by the name of its species.

"Let's start with you, Charmander. Let me see…" he trailed off while looking at the fire lizard.

The name had to be something to do with fire, obviously. It only took him a few moments to come up with some that were decent: Blazer, Pyro, Ignis, Infernus, Rubeus, etc. However, Charmander deserved something more than a decent name. Not only his personality wouldn't match something that was generic but the goals that Charmander had set for himself had to go with how Charmander identified himself.

With that in mind…

Ash slowly began to grin at the fire lizard. "There are many stories about powerful pokemon that used to rule the lands of Kanto and Johto. One of them is about the King of the Fire Dragons. It speaks about a charizard that probably possessed the King's Nature, rumored to have reached a height of thirty feet and a wingspan of almost a hundred feet, more than double of what any charizard could hope to reach. This charizard ruled over a significant portion of Johto and went its entire reign undefeated. It's rumored that the seat of its power is what today is known as the Charicific Valley Natural Reserve and that its remains are somewhere in there. The name the natives of that time gave to this charizard was Igneel. Do you think you can live up to that name?"

Charmander's eyes had been glued to his during the entire time he was speaking and at some point, a grin that matched Ash's own appeared on the reptilian face of the fire lizard. When Ash asked his question, Charmander's blue eyes lit up and the flame of his tail flared up considerably as he gave a barking growl of acceptance of the challenge that almost sounded like a roar.

Ash's facial expression matched the one the fire lizard had. "Excellent. Then, from now on, you are Igneel, the one that shall become the King of Fire Dragons of this time and age," said Ash as he reached down and rubbed the scaled head of his starter.

The now named Igneel gave a purr of satisfaction as he was petted.

Pidgey then chirped a bit indignantly.

Ash chuckled as he stopped his ministrations on Char-, erm, Igneel's head, who gave the not so tiny bird pokemon a look of mild annoyance. "I haven't forgotten about you, Pidgey. Let's see what I can come up with," said Ash with another chuckle as Pidgey gave him an imperious look while puffing up her chest.

Considering what Pidgey would eventually grow up to be, Ash easily came up with a few names that would suit her: Skye, Aeria, Plume, Ventia, etc. However, someone as… queenly… as Pidgey deserved a name that befitted her status. Ash was planning for Pidgey to become the master of the sky, make her able of harnessing the air itself to do her whim by only using pure willpower. That made him think of one of gods of old, Zephyrus, who was said to rule over the winds of the skies of the western regions (Kanto/Johto). However, Pidgey was female and that was male name. But…

Ash smiled down at the tan and brown colored bird. "What do you think about Zephya, a shortened and feminized version of 'Zephyrus', which was the name attributed to the god of wind here in Kanto and Johto. I think it should be a fitting name considering how I am planning on building you up and what you should be capable of doing in the future. What do you think?"

The queenly bird's eyes gleamed in approval at the name and she cried out and puffed up her chest imperiously while she flapped her wings, displaying her wingspan, a few times in what seemed like emphasis.

Ash reached down and stroked her crest gently, getting a soft coo from Pid-, erm, Zephya. "I'm glad you liked it," he said before continuing his ministrations for a few moments, much to the enjoyment of the avian. He then retired his hand and looked down at his two pokemon: his starter and the first one he ever caught. They were looking at him with intense eyes and showing they were ready to face everything the world would throw at them.

Ash grinned. "Tonight, we rest but tomorrow we start working to reach our goals for real. Are you both ready?"

Igneel gave a barking growl before nodding resolutely, the flame of his tail flickering as it burned brightly.

Zephya chirped before nodding and flapping her wings repeatedly, creating a brief breeze that ruffled Ash's hair a bit.

The black-haired trainer from Pallet Town could that they were more than ready, for they were actually looking forward to it.

' _And, if I'm honest, I am too.'_

* * *

 **Okay, so this is the reason why AHWA was not updated in the past weekend.**

 **I have been a fan of Pokémon my entire life. As in, Pokémon Red was the first game I ever owned and "finished". Why did I put quotations on the word finished? Well, while I did beat the League, I never got around completing the pokedex. I never managed to get my hands on a Mew back in the day. I still owned all the other 150 pokemon, all Lvl 100 (I used to have A LOT of free time. I probably had close to three thousand hours' worth of playtime. Heck, it's likely more than that). My original team consisted of Charizard, Pidgeot, Raichu, Rhydon, Vaporeon and Hitmonchan.**

 **Ahem, getting side tracked here.**

 **I always wanted to write my own fanfic about pokemon and the idea had always been in the back of my mind, what with my muse (what is left of it) focused on AHWA. However, my favorite pokemon fanfiction, Traveler by The Straight Elf, was updated recently after almost a year and I was hit harder than MGK by Eminem's Killshot (Let's be honest here. Shady murdered that dude and he wasn't even trying. Yes. I am a Stan. You can't blame me though).**

 **I tried to write for AHWA first before putting my mediocre skill to this but sincerely couldn't. I only managed to write half of the first scene before I couldn't take it anymore. I HAD to write this before I lost my fucking mind.**

 **And thus, Pinnacle was born.**

 **A few things you have to keep in mind if you want to read this fanfiction:**

 **1)To me, Alola and everything having to do with it does not exist. To me, Pokémon started to lose its essence with Unova and kind of got it back with Kalos, and that's the only reason why I am also including those regions. By that same logic, I will only use elements from generation VI and back.**

 **2)Don't expect Ash to be an idiot and to catch a lot of pokemon. First and foremost, not only this Ash is more mature but he is also a practicioner of common sense and thinking before acting. You will see I am perfectly capable of writing an interesting and exciting story with an Ash that isn't the suicidal type of reckless.**

 **While Ash isn't going to be like Paul that he catches a bunch of the same pokemon and releases the weaker ones, he WILL have standards for the pokemon that will be part of his team. I have already planned everything and I think you will be pleased with the choices I made.**

 **3) I will try to make this world as realistic as possible so expect some grittiness and explicit content of all kinds. Also, do not expect for everything to work exactly like it does in the game or in the anime or in the manga. I will adapt anything I deem it needs adapting in order to fit how I am building this world. If you payed close attention, there was more than one example on this chapter.**

 **Also, by the time this is uploaded my profile should be updated with Ash's general trainer information and his pokemon and their move pool at the end of the chapter. I will repeat this with each update.**

 **Considering how my muse is so over the place right now, you should be getting mixed updates for this and AHWA. Sorry for all inconveniences.**

 **I think that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Muffin out!**

 **PD: If you can guess from where I got Ash's trainer ID number, you'll get a yet-to-be-bitten cybermuffin!**


	2. The Great Green Forest

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is part of the Pokémon franchise. The rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. I shall only use elements from the franchise on this piece of fan fiction for non-lucrative purposes. Make sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

 **This is the Reviews' Answer Corner. I will take some of the reviews you posted on the previous chapter and answer them.**

 **Noxlux013:** Thanks. I have already decided what will happen to Pikachu but I you will have to wait for a while to see but I believe it is going to be well received. I am afraid you will be annoyed because he is not going to get pokemon solely from the Kanto/Johto region but I will do my best to not only make it believable but that it also makes sense. Fairy types are most certainly a thing as is Mega Evolution.

Z-Moves are not a thing but pokemon can go past natural 'limits' with training. I disliked Alola for those same reasons and also because I am not a kid anymore and I am more interested in more mature topics and settings. That is what I am trying to build here.

 **LukeGaylRR:** I'm pretty sure I've only seen King's Nature once or twice after I saw it for the first time in Essence. I didn't have time to fix the small mistakes on the first chapter. I will make sure to do that some time in the future. I actually came up with it the nicknames in right there in the moment when it occurred to me to have Ash give the members of his team their own name. The names of the other pokemon he will catch will have more thought and consideration put into them. I promise you won't be disappointed.

 **PhenioxMaster:** Only Charizard and Pidgeot, which will become obvious when you read the chapter.

 **lstwill56:** Thank you for saving me the trouble of wasting words on pointing out the same things and then some. You get a cybermuffin for that, mate. I will add, however, that the Ash in my story is most certainly not an OC because he still loves pokemon, he still became a pokemon trainer and he still wants to be the best. What actually changed was the setting around him and what he did in order to work towards achieving his goals.

 **KingPyle:** I didn't know you could black people on . And even then, I wouldn't block him. Let him see that his 'helpful suggestions' are being acknowledged but not taken into consideration whatsoever. Besides, the words of an author that has never reached even fifty favs/follow on his stories with 'superior' writing will never affect me. Let me make something very clear to everyone. I might possibly the most laid back and chill guy you'll ever meet in your life, but push me and I assure you that Cersei Lannister ain't got shit on me. Sorry, the remnants of my edgy teenage face just came out. I'll go give my dogs a walk.

 **StayBlessed:** Now when did I said that Giovanni's is Ash's dad? The only thing that you could have taken from the scene with Delia is that she is related to him in some fashion and I assure you, Giovannis is definitely not Ash's dad. I do admit, however, that he does gives writer a good source of drama. I think you'll like what you I have planned.

 **Omni-Creator Kami of Anime:** Even though I already replied to you when you sent DM'ed me, I will also answer you here. Froakie, or any of its evolutions, will never be part of Ash's pokemon team in this story. If you want to see Ash-Greninja, go watch canon. Also, don't tell me what I can or cannot do in my story. The relationship you speak of is also canon. If I am not mistaken, this is not canon. This is a fanfiction.

 **Mateusz:** Stick around long enough and you shall be pleased.

 **Commandosquirrel:** I think the answer to that question is explicitly and plainly shown in the first chapter.

 **Red-Haired-Jack:** I am still not sure about the pairings but knowing myself as well as I do, it will likely end up being a Multi pairing. However, this story will focus on Ash's adventures and his relationship with his team as he grows to become the best pokemon trainer in the world.

 **That's enough review answering for today! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter two: The Great Green Forest**

* * *

"Did you hear what happened last night?"

"Yeah. The thieves that had been running around Viridian were caught by the police after Officer Jenny managed to track them with her arcanine when their latest hit got somehow botched by a newbie trainer with a pikachu of all things. I also heard that they were low ranking members of Team Rocket."

Ash perked up as he heard the last bit from the pair of guys that were talking while he walked a few paces behind them.

"Really?!" The one that had first spoken looked both surprised and troubled

The other guy nodded grimly. "Yeah. Those guys used to run everything in the shadows a while back but they have been getting a lot bolder lately."

"That's worrisome."

"Yeah. I just hope the League deals with them before things start escalating even more and they become a bigger problem than they already are."

"You and me both, buddy. You and me both. Hey, did you here about the possible new inclusions at the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City?"

"No. What's that about?"

"Well…"

That was the last Ash eavesdropped of their conversation before the took a route that differed from his, as they were apparently heading further into Viridian while he was walking towards the northern outskirts of the city. He was heading towards the Viridian Forest after all.

While knowing that the thieves he learned about from Officer Jenny had been caught by her made him feel so relief, the fact that they were members of the infamous Team Rocket made the relief he felt pointless. Team Rocket was a known criminal organization whose purposes and goals were still unknown, which only made them more unpredictable, much to the chagrin of the League. What was known, however, was that they dealt in illegal pokemon trafficking and exploitation of all kind and other venues that allotted a lot of monetary capital, which meant that whatever they wanted to do, required a lot of funds.

Like the second guy had said, Team Rocket used to do everything in the shadows and it had been only by mere luck that the League had managed to stumble upon some of their operations and stopped them. However, ever since about two years ago, a significant number of things had happened that had been attributed to Team Rocket, as not only they weren't being s discreet as before, but they were apparently taking pride in being recognized as the ones doing those things. The League didn't even want to consider the possible implications.

Ash just hoped to never run into any member of the organization. Ash had seen enough movies and heard enough stories from his mother and Professor Oak to know that getting involved with criminals was not a good idea, to say the least.

Ash shook his head as he continued to make his way towards the northern exit of Viridian City. _'It's best if I don't think about it too much for now,'_ he thought to himself.

The black-haired trainer instead decided to focus on his pokemon and what he had done that morning. After getting up around the time the sun started to rise, Ash had taken Igneel and Zephya with him to the grounds behind the pokemon center to have them run training drills that focused on building up their foundation, practice the moves they know and finished it al up with a mock battle between the two of them. Ash planned for that to be the dairy morning routine of his team before doing anything else. The afternoon/evenings will be dedicated to learning and developing new techniques.

Ash had also joined them for bonding and motivational purposes.

Eventually, Ash reached the outskirts of the city and he looked at what he could see of Route 2, which was the road that connected Viridian City and the Viridian Forest. Route 2 shared many characteristics with Route 1, one of them being how far the extended until it ended. That meant that it was going to take him about two days before he reached the Viridian Forest proper if he set the same pace he had set when he journeyed from Pallet Town to Viridian City.

After a few moments, Ash released both Igneel and Zephya, who looked up at him with confusion when they noticed that there wasn't a battle going on.

Ash smirked down at them. "Did you really think I was going to be the only one walking, or flying in the case of Zephya, our way forward? Nope. Think again. You both are going to do the same as me. Igneel, I want you to walk by my side and be ready to fend off any wild pokemon that thinks attacking us is a good idea. And Zephya, I want you to fly above us and see if there is anything of interest up ahead. I'll whistle something like this," he paused to perform a slightly high-pitched sound that had a sharp and short crescendo at the end to show what he meant before continuing, "if I need you to come down. Understood?"

The fire lizard nodded his head with a grunt before moved to stand at Ash's right side. Zephya chirped her understanding before she flapped her wings and flew into the air. Ash looked up to see that she rose to an altitude where she looked like a small tan and brown moving speck. Ash wasn't worried on whether she would be able to listen to his signal or that she might lose sight of him and Igneel. As an avian pokemon, Zephya possessed incredibly developed senses of hearing and eyesight and the latter was further enhanced by her ability Keen Eye.

With an excited grin on both their faces, Ash and Igneel, with Zephya serving as the scout from high above, began their trek into Route 2.

* * *

The first day on Route 2 had been uneventful in the manner that nothing too different from his journey from Pallet Town to Viridian City had happened. The only things that were different were the number of trainers he faced and the number and species of wild pokemon that attacked him.

Regarding trainer battles, Ash had noticed that significantly older trainers barely glanced at him and Igneel when passing each other. Ash thought it was only fair considering that they likely had pokemon that were beyond Igneel and Zephya that it wasn't even worth talking about it. Not only that, but trainers also battled to earn ranking points and while you could gain some points just for participating in an official battle, the ranking between trainers determined the amount of points each would get should they win.

Because of that, Ash only faced trainers that had recently started out, just like him. He ended up participating in eight more battles and he had won them all too. Six of those battles had been one-on-one, allotting him ten ranking points each and the other two had been two-on-two, allotting him twenty points each. That meant that by the end of the day he had gotten one hundred ranking points. Between F ranked trainers, each pokemon was 'worth' ten ranking points.

His funds had increased from two thousand and four hundred pokecredits to four thousand and four hundred pokecredits. Each pokemon that participated in a battle was 'worth' two hundred pokecredits. He had managed to regain what he had spent in supplies and a bit more, which had been not bad at all.

Regarding the wild pokemon that had attempted to attack him, Zephya had dealt with the spearow before the even got too close while Igneel dealt with the rattatta, weedle and mankey that got too close. Ash made sure to do the same thing he did with them as he did with the wild pokemon he defeated back in Route 1.

After Ash had decided that it had been enough walking for the day around five in the afternoon and he had made camp in one of those camping sites, it had come the time for Igneel and Zephya to start learning new moves. Ash decided that Igneel would start with metal claw while Zephya was going to start with wing attack.

According to the pokedex, the best way to teach Igneel how to use metal claw would be to have him attack first a tree bark with hiss claws, not using any enhancement by moves like scratch of course, and then do the same with a boulder. The point was to have Igneel's claws break and heal repeatedly which would make them harder and harder until Igneel became able of instinctually channeling steel type energy to perform the move. It shouldn't take more than five days of diligent training before Igneel was able of using the move decently.

As for Zephya and wing attack, the principle of learning it was similar. First of all, Zephya had to increase the strength and musculature of her wings. To accomplish that, Ash used rope to tie rocks of significant weight to her wings and had her keep herself airborne, not too far of the ground, until she got tired, let her rest for a few minutes and get back to it again. If everything was done correctly, in almost no time at all Zephya should become able of enhancing her wings with flying type energy and use them to strike her opponents.

After two hours of that, Ash had stopped them and showered the two members of his team with praise for their diligence and their willingness to follow his instructions despite how uncomfortable it made them. Ash made sure Igneel and Zephya had a hearty meal as their rewards, which Ash could tell had more than made up for the amount of physical activity they had participated in.

While Igneel and Zephya had gone to sleep almost immediately after they had finished eating, Ash had stayed up for a few more hours reading more about the pidgey evolutionary lines and writing anything that occurred to him regarding training ideas and battle tactics with his two pokemon. He had also gotten started on writing his bimonthly report for Professor Oak, deciding that he would organize it by day and include both what he observed and speculated regarding his pokemon. He had made sure to include his suspicions about Zephya possessing the King's Nature.

Then, on the next morning of the second day, Ash had Igneel and Zephya do their morning drills before setting out again. Ash planned on not accepting as many battles as before since he had not covered the way halfway up to Viridian Forest and he wanted to at least reach the forest before the day ended. Like yesterday, Igneel was dutifully walking by his side keeping an eye on willful wild pokemon while Zephya scouted from above.

And it was thanks to that Ash, after four hours of walking and winning two more one-on-one battles, managed to acquire the third member of his team on his fourth day as a trainer.

Ash looked up when he heard Zephya chirping almost frantically and he saw her rapidly coming down. He stopped, Igneel doing the same at his side, and the two of them looked at the avian with curious expression on their faces when stopped at eye level with her trainer. "What is it girl?"

Zephya nudged almost her entire body in one direction as she turned her head back and forth while chirping continuously.

It took a few moments for Ash to understand. "You saw something that requires our immediate attention?" Zephya chirped in an affirmative fashion and nodded her head. "Lead the way then. Let's go, Igneel!"

The fire lizard grunted in the affirmative as Zephya turned and began to fly in the direction she had been signaling towards just a bit higher than she had been when communicating with Ash. The black-haired trainer and the charmander jogged for few minutes as they followed the tan and brown avian as she led them through many patches of trees and bushes further into the land and away from the main path but still with direction north.

Ash knew that he was getting close the moment he started to hear a pair of young voices shouting things that he couldn't exactly make out followed by sounds that had to come from three different pokemon and that was followed by cries of differing levels of distress by one of the pokemon. Having a bad feeling about it, Ash pushed himself forwards the last few yards of the trek and he stood next the tree that had the branch in which Zephya had decided to perch herself as he and Igneel came up to a scene that disgusted him.

The first thing he noticed was the clearly injured male nidoran that had been backed against a tree that, despite its current state, was glaring defiantly at the ones that were obviously responsible for it. The next thing he noticed were the bellsprout and machop that stood only a few feet away from the male nidoran. And finally, Ash noticed the two clearly new trainers that stood behind the bellsprout and machop as they glared heatedly at each other.

"Let's get Nidoran, Machop! Knock him out with a karate chop!" Said the trained that stood behind the superpower pokemon.

"Not so fast! Bellsprout, hit him first with vine whip!" Said the other trainer.

Ash understood what was happening immediately and a scowl appeared on his face. "Zephya, quick attack on the machop. Igneel, fireball on the bellsprout."

Zephya shrieked before she flapped her wings rose to the air while Igneel reared his head back with a barking growl. This announced their presence and the three pokemon and two trainers turned towards the source only to see a furious black-haired teen with red eyes glaring at them heatedly with a charmander at his side with small embers leaking from the corners of its opened maw.

They only had time to blink in confusion before Zephya rammed head first into the machop's chest with the full force of her quick attack, making the fighting type pokemon give a cry of pain as it was sent sprawling to the ground. A moment later, the bellsprout was knocked out immediately after being hit directly by Igneel's fireball.

"Hey! What the heck are you doing?!" Cried the owner of the bellsprout when he saw his pokemon being one-shot like that.

The other trainer was looking worriedly as he downed pokemon.

Ash did not answer him. "Zephya, finish the machop with gust."

With another cry, Zephya began to flap her wings rapidly while facing the struggling-to-get-up machop. Unlike the time she used the technique to disperse Igneel's smokescreen, the gust of wind she generated was noticeably more concentrated and it was aimed directly at machop. Considering that gust was a flying type move and machop was a fighting type, the attack was supper effective and the superpower pokemon was sent flying a few yards away before hitting the ground with a thud and it made no further movements other than the slight rise and fall of its chest.

As the two trainers frantically scurried to their pokemon, Ash and Igneel briskly walked until he stood defensively in front of the male nidoran, who was looking up at his back with something akin to awe in its red eyes, with a snarling Igneel standing in front of him brandishing his claws. A moment later Zephya perched herself on his left shoulder and she chirped before glaring at the two trainers.

"Who the hell are you and why did you do that for?!" shouted the trainer of the machop after he returned his downed pokemon while glaring at Ash.

The trainer of the bellsprout, having returned his own pokemon, stood up and also glared bloody murder at Ash. "Did you just want the nidoran for yourself, huh? Sorry to burst your bubble but we saw him first! I'll report you to the League!"

Ash scoffed. "You do that and in turn I will report both of you on first degree pokemon assault," he replied angrily while crossing his arms aggressively. Igneel's snarl became noticeably more intense while the flame of his tail began to burn a bit brighter. Zephya's gaze narrowed even further.

That caught the two trainers flat footed. "What?!"

"The hell you mean?!"

"The moment I saw both of you ordering your pokemon to attack Nidoran at the same time it became obvious to me what happened," said Ash while glaring at them. "Had you decided to battle the nidoran one-on-one and the one that defeated him had the right to capture him, they wouldn't be no issues. But you both decided that the first one to knock it out was going to capture him, right?"

"Yeah, so what?! Trainers use their team to battle wild pokemon all the time and I know of some that had to use three and even four pokemon to beat one and capture them!" Shouted the trainer of the machop.

The trainer of the bellsprout nodded his head in agreement.

"There's a big freaking difference between _one trainer_ using their team to _defend themselves_ from wild pokemon that attack them or _one trainer_ using their entire team to beat one pokemon that is strong enough that _three or four trained pokemon are needed to defeat it_ and what you were doing here. I have already recorded everything I saw and I am one tap away from sending it to the League, which will result in you getting your licenses suspended at least, if you don't beat it. With that being said, what is it gonna be?" The part about him recording it was not true but they didn't know that but he showed them the screen of his X-Transceiver with the League app opened to make it more believable.

It only took the two young newbie trainers to understand what he was saying and they paled. After sharing a look between them they turned tail and began to frantically run way from there, knowing that one nidoran, no matter how tough, was not worth having their trainer licenses suspended or worse.

Ash relaxed the moment they disappeared from view. "Well, that take's care of that. Now…" Ash trailed off and he turned around so he could look down at the injured male nidoran. Igneel, who had also relaxed, also turned around and gave the purple poison pin pokemon a curious look while Zephya dropped down from Ash's shoulder to stand next to the fire lizard on the ground.

Ash kneeled down and he smiled down at the nidoran. "Hey there, little guy. You have some injuries in you that might take more time that it would take more than a while to heal and that could be dangerous for you. If you let me, I can help you speed the process significantly."

Surprising Ash, the nidoran nodded his head with almost no hesitation. It seemed like he had made good impression when he saved him from those trainers.

Ash grinned. "Okay. Give me a second," he said before he shrugged off his backpack and put it in front of him. Seeing the nidoran look at it with some wariness, Ash made sure to pull out the two potions he deemed the nidoran needed with deliberate slowness so as to not spoke the purple creature. Ash then showed the healing items to the nidoran. "I'm going to spray you with it now. I have to warn you thou, it's going to sting a bit for a moment but it will certainly make you feel better."

The eyes of the nidoran turned towards Igneel and Zephya and the fire lizard nodded with a grunt while Zephya cooed encouragingly. Hearing two pokemon tell him to go for it seemed to be enough for the purple poison type, who turned towards Ash and nodded resolutely.

With an apologetic smile on his face, Ash began to spray the potion all over the nidoran's injuries, grimacing in sympathy when the purple creature closed his eyes and hissed in pain at the initial sensation of the potion. Ash knew that how much it hurt at first was directly proportional to how grievous the injury was, so the more you were hurt the higher the 'sting' was. While the nidoran's injuries weren't worth rushing him to a pokemon center, they were serious enough. That meant that the pain nidoran felt when the potions were applied was not insignificant. It actually impressed Ash that a few hisses, grunts and sharply closed eyes were the reactions the male nidoran had.

Eventually, Ash finished applying the potions and he smiled when he saw poison pin pokemon slacking in relief as his injuries visibly began to get better at a slow pace. Ash put away the empty potions and secured his bag to his back once again. Before he stood up, Ash looked intently at the nidoran. He had like the look in his eyes when he first saw him, defiant and ready to fight despite being cornered. Not only that, but the nidoran had apparently been strong enough to fend off two pokemon commanded by different trainers at the same time, which was remarkable for a wild pokemon that lived in Route 2.

After a few moments of deliberation, Ash made a decision. "Hey," he addressed the purple creature, smiling when his oversized ears twitched before his eyes opened and were focused on him. "I know this might be in bad taste considering what happened, but would you like to become a member of my team? I am a pokemon trainer and my dream is to become the strongest one ever. After everything I saw, there's no doubt in my mind that you have the potential to be one of the strongest of your kind, meaning that you can help me achieve my dream. What do you say?"

The nidoran cocked his head to the side in what seemed like consideration before he turned to give another look towards Igneel and Zephya before making a series of inquisitive hisses and grunts. Igneel was the first put his two berries in as he gave a series of growls, hisses and grunts while pointing at himself and Ash a few times before ending his speech with a resolute nod of his head. Zephya followed up with a series of chirps and coos and flapping her wings a few times in what seemed like emphasis before she ended her own speech by flying up and perching herself on Ash's capped head regally.

Not exactly understanding what the said, but knowing that they spoke on his favor, Ash gave the fire lizard and the queenly avian a look of gratefulness.

The purple creature with oversized ears focused back on Ash after he heard everything Igneel and Zephya had to say about Ash before surprising everyone when it slowly rose to his feet. He locked eyes with Ash for a few moments before the poison pin pokemon nodded his head once while giving Ash a resolved look.

Ash grinned in delight and laughed merrily. He grabbed one of the shrunken unused pokeballs and enlarged it. "Welcome to the team," he said softly to the nidoran before he gently tapped the pokeball against one of the poison pin pokemon's ear, making it twitch as the pokeball opened up and swallowed the nidoran in a flash of transparent red energy. There was not resistance at all from the purple creature and the pokeball dinged with a successful capture.

Feeling elated, Ash sharply rose from his kneeling position and he grinned up apologetically at Zephya who flapped her wings and squawked indignantly at him because of it. "Sorry girl. I'll be careful next time. Do you mind directing us back to the main road since that is the most direct path to the Viridian Forest? I want to reach its outer parts before we stop to make camp and for our evening training session."

Zephya somehow seemed to huff before she imperiously looked away and rose high in the air before heading in the direction of the main road, expecting that Ash would simply follow her. The black-haired trainer looked down at Igneel, who seemed to shrug his shoulders as if saying 'women', before chuckling a bit. "Let's see if we can have at least two more battles before we stop moving for the day. We'll let our new partner rest and heal and we'll get to know him better later."

Igneel grunted before nodding in agreement. Ash smirked down at the fire lizard before he began to make his way back to the main road with his starter at his side ready for anything and looking forward to meeting the new member of the team.

* * *

Ash lightly smiled down as Zephya as he finished tying up the rocks, a bit heavier than yesterday, to her wings. He chuckled at her disgruntled expression as she had to put visible effort into lifting her wings. "Don't look at me like that girl. You know that you need to do this if you want to get stronger and learn wing attack. Did you notice that you were a little faster and your gust packed a bit more of a punch today? I certainly did. Besides, you'll only need a few more days before are done."

Ash laughed when she rolled her eyes at him. He could tell that the expression she had on her face right now meant that she was starting to hate when he made sense. He tried to stop his laughing when she chirped indignantly at him and it was with an expression twitching between amused and even that Ash watched Zephya fly a few feet away so she could start her training for the evening.

Hearing grunts and growls of exertion, Ash turned towards where Igneel was and he grinned proudly when he saw the fire lizard determinedly slashing away at a thick tree with determined eyes and brightly flickering tail flames. Igneel's diligence to doing anything that would make him stronger never ceased to amaze and please Ash. Every day he became surer and surer that both of them would be able to realize their dreams.

After the ordeal that resulted in Ash acquiring a male nidoran as the third member of his team, Ash had mostly focused on reaching the Viridian Forest. That didn't mean that he had not battled, however, as he participated in three more: two one-on-one battles and one two-one-two battle. Since he had battled against inexperienced trainers, his natural strong pokemon and his talent for battle tactics had assured him those wins as well, meaning that his streak continued. Though he had to admit that the last trainer's rattata had been a nasty piece of work and it had given him some trouble.

With only those battles as interruption, plus the few wild pokemon that had attempted to attack them, Ash had managed to reach the southern edge of the Viridian Forest, where he would spend the next two weeks. Ash knew that if he focused on crossing it by following the inner path that connected it directly with Pewter City, he could actually make the trek in about a week. However, Ash wanted to give his pokemon as much training and experience as he could before attempting to challenge Brock, the Gym Leader of the Pewter City Gym.

"Good work you both! Remember, while I want you to work hard I don't want you to get hurt. If you feel too tired stop and rest before starting back again," he told them and he got a grunt and a chirp of acknowledgement in response.

Ash then walked towards one of the trees that were in the area that he decided to make camp in and he took a seat next to it and leaned his back with a sigh against its trunk. The black-haired trainer then grabbed his new teammates pokeball, enlarged it and pressed the release button. In a flash of white, much to Ash's relief, a noticeably healthier looking nidoran appeared at his side.

The purple creature shook his head and twitched his oversized ears before focusing curious eyes on the trainer from Pallet Town.

Ash smiled down at the new member of his team. "Hello there. How do you feel? Better, I hope."

The nidoran chittered softly before nodding his head in the affirmative.

He grinned. "That's good to hear," he said before he reached into his pocked and pulled out his pokedex. He motioned towards it as he flickered it open and pointed its scanner at the male nidoran, whose curious gaze had shifted to the red and black device. "Since you are a member of my team now, I'd like to know what you are capable of and a more precise indication of your potential so I can design the best training program for you. It will only take a moment."

The nidoran nodded his head in agreement after hearing Ash's explanation.

A sharp dinging sound later and the soft, mechanical and androgynous voice of his pokedex began to narrate to him the basic and general information on the purple creature that stood at his side.

 ** _Nidoran. The poison pin pokemon. It is small, but its horn is filled with poison. It charges then stabs with the horn to inject poison. The larger its horns, the more powerful is its secreted venom. Stiffens its ears to sense danger. The male nidoran has developed muscles for moving its ears. Thanks to them, the ears can be freely moved in any direction. Even the slightest sound does not escape this pokemon's notice. Its large ears are flapped like wings when it is listening to distant sounds. It extends toxic barbs when angered._**

 ** _This nidoran is a male and possesses the ability known as Poison Point. It knows the moves peck, focus energy, double kick and poison sting. It possesses the egg move supersonic but it has yet to be unlocked._**

Ash grinned down at the nidoran. "I think I understand how you managed to hold yourself against two pokemon at the same time. You are one tough little guy, aren't you?" Ash complimented his as he slowly reached towards the poison pin pokemon with his hand. His grin widened when the nidoran tilted his head to the side and easily allowed Ash to gently caress his hide. Ash made sure to keep his hands away from his poisonous barbs and horn even though they weren't secreting poison, just in case.

After a few moments he stopped and he chuckled when the nidoran whined in displeasure. After a moment Ash sobered up and addressed the new member of his team. "Alright, let me explain how this is going to work. I will make sure to take care of all your needs, specially making sure that you are healthy and that you don't have to worry about food. In exchange, I will need your obedience regarding training to become stronger and battling other pokemon. Do you understand?"

The purple creature with oversized ears nodded his head in resolution.

Ash smiled. "Good. I'll let you rest for today since I want to make sure you are back to one hundred percent before I start training you. But I'll explain how we do things. You see those two?" Ash first pointed at Igneel, who had apparently not stopped continuously scratching at the tree even if Ash could tell that his rhythm was not the same compared to when he started, and then at Zephya, who was showing signs of strain as she flapped her wings with enough strength and fast enough to keep herself flying in place. "We take a few hours in the evening to learning new moves while the mornings we build up on foundations, focus on mastering moves that have been successfully learned and finish it up with a mock battle before we set out, facing other pokemon trainers and wild pokemon until the times come to set camp and for the evening session."

The nidoran seemed to understand Ash's explanation and he sat on his haunches next to Ash, who was amused to see that the poison type was relieved he was going to start training tomorrow as it was apparent he was not completely recovered. While the small purple pokemon began to watch Igneel and Zephya training, Ash switched between that and between reading nidoran's pokedex entry to get more information on him.

After almost ten minutes, Ash spoke again. "Hey," he called, easily getting the attention of the newest member of the team. "Would you like have a name of your own?" He asked him the same question he asked his starter and his first capture. He went to elaborate when the nidoran expressed his confusion. "I know you wouldn't mind being called by the name of your species, but I think we can grow closer if I give you a name you can say is your own and that no one, but you, has it. Those two agreed to it when I proposed the idea to them. The charmander's name is Igneel and the pidgey's name is Zephya. What do you say?"

Ash watched as purple pokemon with oversized ears seemed to consider his offer for a few moments before nodding his head in agreement.

The first names that came to mind were related to poison or the color purple, but Ash rejected those almost immediately. Ash wanted for the nidoran to have a name that would represent the status he would have in the future. The black-haired trainer knew that nidoran where only capable of reaching the second stage of their evolutionary line, Nidorino, naturally and for the third stage, Nidoking, they would need to either be exposed to a moonstone or become exclusively nocturnal for years and passively absorb lunar energy every night until the evolution was triggered.

Ash was never going to force any member of his team to do anything they didn't want to do and that included evolving. However, evolution, even the ones that needed specific stimuli and/or to meet certain specifications, was a natural process and it was rare to find a pokemon that didn't want to evolve to their final stage. Ash had a feeling that his nidoran would want to eventually become a nidoking the moment he became ready to do so, so Ash felt that his name needed to match that.

After a few seconds of thought, Ash believed he had the perfect name.

"How about 'Rexus'?" He asked, watching as the ears of the purple poison type twitched when he said the name. "It has the word 'king' in it, which is part of the name of what you will eventually become. After seeing how tough you are, I think the name suits you. What do you think?" Ash left unsaid that he just added the last two letters to make it a bit more original and because he honestly thought it sounded better than just Rex.

It only took a few moments of consideration before the nidoran chittered in excitement and nodded his head in acceptance.

Ash grinned down at him. "Then, once again, welcome to the team, Rexus. I'll make sure you never regret accepting becoming a part of it. I promise."

That night, after Igneel and Zephya were finished with their training and everyone's stomach was filled with food, Ash found himself with a small smile across his face, which was being illuminated by the dim light of the pokedex as he read about the male nidoran evolutionary line. Igneel was curled at his right side, the flames of his tail keeping him warm, and Rexus was laying on his stomach at his left side. And finally, perched up on the lowest hanging branch of the tree that was right behind him, Zephya slept with her head tucked into one of her wings.

* * *

"Alright, Igneel. Let's see metal claw," said Ash as he stood a few feet behind the fire lizard. Zephya was perched on his shoulder and Rexus sat on his haunches next to him at his left. The three of them were looking at Igneel who stood in front a tree that had its bark intact. They were on the clearing the were going to use spend the night and for the evening training session.

Igneel grunted in acknowledgement. After a few moments, the claws of his right forepaw shone a metallic white, duplicated their length and seemingly got even sharper. With a snarl, Igneel slashed at the bark of the tree, leaving a three deep gouges in it.

Ash grinned. After five days of constantly breaking his claws and letting them heal, Igneel had learned metal claw. However…

"Excellent work, Igneel. From now on, as part of your morning training, we will work first on extending for how long you can keep metal claw up and then we will work on using it on both hands at the same time. You will also work on increasing the strength of your inner fire like we have been doing since day one by continuously using fireball. Today you will start harnessing your draconic energy by learning dragon rage. I'll tell you in a second how you have to go around doing so," he said before he turned towards the avian perched on his shoulder. "Alright, your turn Zephya. Go for wing attack against the tree. Igneel, give her some space."

When the fire lizard proudly walked back to stand at Ash's right, the avian chirped her acknowledgement before she flapped her wings, somehow not hitting Ash in the head, and rose to air. She circled around the clearing once before she zeroed on her target and with speeds that she had only be capable of reaching using quick attack six days ago, she shot towards the tree with her wings spread. Said appendages glowed a transparent white and trails of windy energy surrounded them as she hit the bark of tree with her enhanced wings. The result was that she left quite mark on it.

"Nicely done, Zephya," he praised her as she circled around the clearing once again before she flew back towards where Ash and her teammates where so she could perch herself on his shoulder once again. She gave a soft coo as Ash began to gently stroke her crest. "In the mornings you'll work on using both quick attack and wing attack at the same time. Now that you have a feel for manipulating flying type energy, I think is best you start learning tailwind. We can leave agility and twister for later."

Zephya gave a chirp of understanding and she cooed lowly in disappointment when her trainer stopped pampering her.

Ash chuckled before he focused on the poison pin pokemon. "It's your turn now, Rexus. Use horn attack against the same tree," he said and he watched with a smirk as the small purple pokemon with oversized ears charged towards the tree with his head lowered, his horn glowing white and growing slight larger. The result ended being Rexus ramming his horn deep into the tree, leaving a hole in it. Ash watched in amusement as Rexus pushed himself free before he began to walk back towards them.

"That was very well executed, Rexus. You will now work in the mornings on increasing how long you can extend your horn and enhancing your moves further by using focus energy constantly. When you master that we will work on combining it with the flying type energy of peck to make it more effective. In the evenings you will now focus on learning fury attack, to make you more effective when fighting up close. After that we will start getting you used to use earth type moves by teaching you mud slap and dig," said Ash once Rexus stood at his left side. The purple pokemon grunted in understanding.

It's been four days since Ash had entered the Viridian Forest and Rexus had joined the team and a few things had happened. The more prominent ones you just saw. Igneel had finally learned metal claw, Zephya had learned wing attack and Rexus had learned horn attack. Now Ash was going to have them master those techniques during the morning training while they learned new techniques. Igneel would be learning dragon rage, Zephya would be learning tailwind and Rexus would be learning fury attack.

' _This past four days have been very productive,'_ he thought to himself as he watched Zephya fly away so she could start learning how to manipulate the air around her to create a bubble that will completely negate the effects of air resistance. Rexus for his part walked back to the tree to attack its trunk repeatedly every way he could until he could do so without stopping for at least twenty seconds while focusing his inner energy, which was how the move fury attack was learned.

The day after he had decided to become a member of the team, Rexus had eagerly joined in the morning training. Ash had been pleased to see that while Rexus had only a bit of trouble in keeping up with them, he more than made up for it with his dedication. That had prompted Ash to ask what motivated him and after a few minutes of grunts, hisses and chittering Ash had managed to get the gist of it. Rexus never wanted to feel again what he felt when he had been cornered by those to trainers and he also wanted to make sure that what he perceived as a debt to Ash, no matter how much the black-haired teen denied it, was paid in full.

Ash felt that he could work with that and they could use that to start bonding in truth.

Also, in the past four days Ash had participated in eighteen pokemon battles, six of which were two-on-two and two had been three-on-three. And Ash had been able to maintain his streak thanks to the fact that most trainers that were interested in battling him inside the Viridian Forest possessed mostly bug type pokemon on their teams and Igneel, Zephya and Rexus possessed techniques that were super effective against those so it had not been exactly difficult to defeat them.

That meant that he currently had more than eleven thousand pokecredits and was past the halfway point to the next rank. While the amount of credits seemed to be a lot for a newbie trainer, which it kind of was, but in the grand scheme of things it really wasn't. The cheapest potion costed one hundred and fifty pokecredits but you also bought status curing medicine, which was even more expensive. Also, you had to consider the amount you would spend on stocking on supplies and other miscellaneous things you'd need for your journey. It was best to not mention the amount he would be spending on TMs when he went to Celadon City.

The trainer with red eyes looked down at Igneel, who was giving him an expectant look. "Okay, according to the pokedex, there you are first supposed to learn how to draw from your reserves of inner draconic energy. It's supposed to be close to your inner fire. Look into yourself and see if you can feel what I am talking about," he instructed after motioning Igneel to follow him a few yards away from his other teammates.

After they stopped walking, Igneel grunted and nodded his head in understanding before closing his eyes and focusing. He easily found his inner fire, having been able to use since he had hatched and Igneel was proud to see that it was significantly stronger than before he decided to become a part of Ash's team. After basking a bit in his noticeably growth in strength, Igneel focused further and began to look for his draconic energy. He had been around his mother enough time to know how what he was looking for felt.

It took him a few moments but Igneel eventually found it and he could tell that while it was similar to how the draconic energy of his mother felt, it also kind of felt hotter and the 'color' was also a bit different. The fire lizard also noticed that it was noticeably weaker compared to his own inner fire, which made sense considering that he had never used it before. Igneel knew, however, that this what he was looking for so he opened his eyes and gave Ash a barking growl before stretching his mouth into a grin.

The black-haired trainer matched Igneel's grin with his own. "That was fast. Though considering that for all intent and purposes you are also a dragon type, I am not surprised you became in tune with it without too much troubles. Now watch this video," said Ash before he showed Igneel the screen of his X-Transceiver displaying a dragonair using dragon rage. "You are supposed to channel a steady amount of draconic energy while expelling your breath in a short burst to make a shockwave of draconic energy. It's similar to how use you use fireball but without charging it and using draconic energy instead of your inner fire. Give it a try."

Igneel nodded and turned to face the nearest tree. With a glare and a snarl, he opened his maw and he let out a short breath while channeling his newfound draconic energy. What came out was a barely visibly puff of lightly bluish green energy that fizzled out not even a foot away from Igneel, who looked at his first attempt incredulously.

Ash burst out laughing when he saw the expression on his starter's face and it didn't help that Igneel began to hiss and growl what had to be curses to express his displeasure. Ash eventually calmed down and he wiped off a stray tear, chuckling again when he saw the unimpressed look Igneel was sending his way. "Oh, chill out dude. It's the first time you are using draconic energy so it's expected that something like would happen. Just keep up practicing and you will eventually increase the strength of your inner draconic energy and learn dragon rage to a degree you can use it in battle."

Ash patted the charmander on his head before walking away, chuckling again when Igneel gave a grumbling growl, and taking seat against the trunk of one the many trees that surrounded them. He needed to write today's report for Professor Oak and after that he would call his mother. After that he'd go see if anyone of them needed some pointers in their training. Ash preferred to not hold their hands during their training since to him that way they would learn what they needed at their own pace which would eventually end in more effective and efficient results.

* * *

Ten days after entering the Viridian Forest, Ash was walking through the main path with Igneel and Rexus at his right and left side respectively. Zephya flew through the trees above of them serving as a scout for them while the nidoran and the charmander fought off the occasional wild pokemon that tried to attack them. It had not been more than an hour since Ash battled, and defeated, his third trainer today and he wanted to focus on advancing more for the rest of the day before stopping for training and to set up camp.

In the past six days, including today, he had participated in twenty-one battles: twelve of them one-on-one, six of them two-on-two and three of them three-on-three. Again, because of the same reasons, he had managed to maintain his streak, even though the further he got into the forest the tougher the 'bug catchers' got. Still, thanks to how strong his own team was, he had managed to keep winning despite how difficult it got. Like that one time he had feared he was going to lose but Igneel had managed to pull through against a trainer's spinarak and beedrill after Zephya had been knocked out by a pikachu only for Rexus to tie with the electric rodent.

Speaking of his team, they had advanced a lot in the past six days.

First of all, Igneel, due to the amount of training he had been in, the amount of battles he had participated in and the many wild pokemon he had fought was showing signs that his evolution to the charmeleon state. His scales had started to darken, the shape of his eyes had begun to narrow, his limbs were noticeably lengthening, his claws were getting longer and sharper and there was a solid bump growing on top of his head where the horn he would have as a charmeleon would be.

Technique wise, Igneel had increased the amount of time he could keep metal claw going to almost thirty seconds and he had managed to also increase how far the lengthened, irrespective of the natural growth of the fire lizard's claws due to his incoming evolution, and how much damage they could dish out. Igneel had also managed to learn dragon rage and was now working almost exclusively on increasing the strength of his inner fire and inner draconic energy by practicing the above-mentioned technique and fireball, which was now so strong that the ball of flames was as big as Igneel was tall. Ash decided that his starter would start learning knew techniques after he evolved.

Refusing to be left behind, Zephya had also started to show signs that her evolution was not too far off. Not was she now slightly taller than Igneel, but the feathers of her crest and tail were starting to show the coloration they would have when she became a full-fledged pidgeotto, her beak was getting longer and the claws of her legs had also lengthened and gotten more wicked looking, so much that it was now a bit uncomfortable for Ash when she would perch on his shoulder.

Even though Zephya had been unable to form the air bubble that would indicate a successfully learned tailwind technique, she had learned how to manipulate the air around her successfully so it was only a matter of time before she accomplished it. What she had been successful on, however, was managing to use quick attack and wing attack at the same time with quite the… effective… results. Ash had decided to name the combination technique fast wing. After Zephya finished learning tailwind, irrespective of whether she evolved or not, Ash still planned on having her learn agility and twister before anything else.

And finally, Rexus, much to Ash's surprise, was also showing signs that his evolution was not too far away. After thoroughly familiarizing him with the male nidoran evolutionary when Rexus had become part of the team, Ash could recognize the signs that pointed to the fact: slight increase in overall mass and size, lengthening and toughening of his horn, noticeable increase in paranoia and aggressiveness and sporadic and sudden start of more potent poison secretion from the glands on his horn, spikes and barbs. It wouldn't be long before the male nidoran evolved into a nidorino.

Rexus had managed to learn fury attack which had increased his ability to fight up close and personal with his opponents. He had also learned mud slap and was working on learning dig now. Rexus had also managed to increase how long his horn would increase in length when using horn attack and how strong it was and if that wasn't enough, Rexus had become able of enhancing horn attack with the flying type energy of peck, increasing its damage output considerably. Ash had decided to name that combination technique wind horn. And finally, Rexus had managed to learn how to use focus energy constantly to increase the effectiveness and strength of all his techniques. Ash would wait until he learned how to use dig and evolved to decided on what he would work next.

Needless to say, Ash immensely proud of them. _'After we leave the forest and we beat Brock, I think a few days of R &R will be in order,' _he thought to himself as he looked first towards Igneel, who was occasionally looking around, then towards Rexus, whose ears were twitching continuously as he looked around in a paranoid manner, and then towards Zephya when she passed overhead and went forward further into the path to scout.

It was a few minutes later, after Zephya had returned with nothing worth reporting, that Ash had one of the most bizarre encounters of his career as a pokemon trainer.

The only warning Ash had before it happened was Igneel and Rexus tensing and adopting aggressively defensive stances in front of him before a teen his age, wearing samurai armor, suddenly jumped out of the bushes with a sharp looking katana raised threateningly above his head. "Hiyah!" The teen wearing samurai armor cried before slashing down with his sword.

Ash jumped back reflexively in order to avoid being cleaved in half but it had been unnecessary. Igneel intercepted the sword strike with a metal claw, a vicious snarl on his face, as the sound of metal hitting metal resounded across the forest. That was followed by Rexus drop kicking the sword wielding teen using double kick, sending him flying away a few feet with a pained cry and making him drop his sword. After he hit the floor with a thud and a pained huff, the samurai armor wearing teen then attempted to get up only for Zephya land on his chest with her wings spread and froze him by shrieking in his face.

"Hey! Hey! I wasn't really going to hurt you man! Don't let them hurt me, please!" Frantically cried the strange kid when he noticed the charmander and nidoran start advancing threateningly towards him.

"Zephya, get off him. Igneel and Rexus, to me," ordered Ash and he waited patiently for his team to follow his instructions, which they did after they made sure that the teen was not going to attempt harming their trainer again. Ash scowled at armor wearing teen as he slowly and shakily got up. "I don't know what made you think that attacking a guy with two pokemon walking by his sides would be a good idea," he said dryly.

"I just wanted to see if you were worthy of being challenged by me," he tried to excuse himself before he gave Ash a dirty look. "Your pokemon are way too aggressive man. I'd would put a better leash on them if I were you."

Ash's nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed and he almost snarled. "How dare you! They acted how they saw fit to deal with what to them, and to me as well, was a lethal threat to their trainer. They most definitely don't need a leash," he growled, feeling satisfied when he saw the samurai wannabe paling when Igneel matched the expression on his face while Rexus' barbs flared as he hissed and lowered his horn, which was dripping with poison, aggressively. Ash didn't even wince when Zephya perched herself on his shoulder and shrieked just as aggressively.

"Hey! Chill out man! I'm sorry for what I said! I'm sorry!" The samurai teen frantically waved his arms in a placating manner and he only stopped doing so when Ash and his team lost their aggressive disposition. "Um, so, can I get my katana back?" He asked meekly.

Ash looked at where the sword laid on the floor and he picked it up by the handle, his scowl growing again when he noticed that the sword was not only very real but it was also sharpened. "I should report you to the League and tell them that you are using a lethal weapon to threaten people. You can actually kill someone with this thing!"

The armor wearing teen paled even more than before. "Please! Don't do it! I just recently got my license and started as a trainer! Besides, I actually know ho to use it and have trained extensively to become skilled with it! I would never harm someone on purpose! I promise! Please!" He pleaded frantically.

Ash just looked at the crazy teen for a few moments before he sighed and threw the sword so it landed a few feet away from him. "Alright. Just make sure to never do it again."

The samurai teen nodded his head rapidly. "Yes! I promise!" He exclaimed before he hurried to pick up his sword and the he sheathed it in the scabbard that was strapped to his right hip. "Erm, do you think we can have that battle? Three-on-three?" He asked hopefully.

Ash considered for a moment before sighing again and nodding. "Sure. Standard rules?" When the armored teen nodded and pulled out his League issued tablet, Ash backed away from him to create enough space between them for the battle. Ash raised his X-Transceiver when it beeped with the battle request and Ash had to struggle in order to keep a straight face when he saw the request came from 'Samurai'. _'Seriously?'_ He thought incredulously before shaking his head and just accepting. "Rexus, you are up first."

The nidoran chittered before he trotted for a moment to stand a few feet in front of Ash, secreting poison all over his body and getting into a position that showed that he was ready to fight.

"Go! Metapod!"

Ash stared at the green chrysalis, which was the secondary state of the caterpie evolutionary line, as it appeared in a bright flash of white energy. _'… seriously?!'_ Ash decided, for the sake of his sanity, to just let things play out as they may. "Use focus energy. Then wind horn," he instructed.

"Metapod! Use harden!"

Rexus briefly glowed a bit as he focused his energy before he began to charge towards the metapod with his horn lowered and it began to glow with white energy before it almost doubled its length and then it was surrounded by windy wisps of flying type energy. Before Rexus reached it, the metapod's carapace acquired an almost metallic shine to it. A second later Rexus slammed into it horn first and the metapod gave a sharp shriek of pain before it was sent flying towards a tree when Rexus raised his head to give more power to his attack.

The metapod slammed against a tree and that, combined with the super effective move, resulted in it fainting the moment it hit the floor, its carapace cracked where it had been hit by Rexus' attack.

Samurai's eyes widened. He frantically returned his pokemon back to its pokeball. "That was just luck! My next pokemon will beat yours!"

"… right. Rexus, good work! Come back here," he called and he smiled down at the male nidoran when he trotted back to him. He then turned to the avian still perched on his shoulder. "Your turn girl. Do your thing," he said and his smile turned into a slight grimace when she chirped in the affirmative and flapped her wings to rise to the air so she could fly in place a few feet in front of him.

"Go! Kakuna!"

Ash just stared. "… you have got to be kidding me," he said flatly before shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fast wing. Let's get this over with."

"Use harden!"

Zephya chirped before she shot forward at fast speeds directly towards the bronze colored chrysalis, which was the secondary state of the weedle evolutionary line, with her body entire body enhanced with quick attack and her wings enhanced even further with the power of wing attack. The Kakuna didn't even had time to carry out Samurai's order before Zephya reached it and struck a direct hit. A cry of pain that was similar to the one the metapod had made, perhaps a bit shriller, came out of it as it was sent flying directly towards the same tree as the metapod. The results were also the same.

"Kakuna! No!" Samurai cried before he frantically returned his defeated second pokemon. "I can't believe this! I guess I'll have to rely on my final and strongest pokemon to get me a win!"

For some reason, Ash felt like facepalming hard enough to break his own nose. "Good job, Zephya. Let's leave the rest to Igneel," he said and he smiled thankfully when Zephya went to perch herself on a nearby branch, knowing that she could hurt him sometimes when she did so on his shoulder. Ash was glad that she didn't take offense to that. Meanwhile, Igneel had already taken his place a few feet in front of Ash and his tail flame was burning brightly, his claws were brandished and he was snarling, clearly ready for battle.

"Go! Pinsir!"

Ash perked up and he smirked when he saw the brown stag bettle pokemon appear in a flash of white energy. "Now this is more like it," he said and it seemed like Igneel shared his sentiment as he gave an aggressive growl and his tail flame burned even brightly when the pinsir hissed and closed and opened its pincers in a threatening manner.

"Get in close with that charmander and use vice grip," shouted Samurai while dramatically pointing at Igneel.

"Don't let it. Use fireball then dragon rage. Get metal claw ready," countered Ash with his own instructions.

With a hiss and another opening and closing motion of its pincers, the pinsir began to charge towards Igneel. The fire lizard reared his head back with his maw opened and after a moment he released ball of concentrated flames that was less than half the size of what pinsir was tall. The fire attack struck pinsir with an explosion of fire and smoke and Ash could tell that it had been stopped in its tracks and that it had been deeply hurt if the screech of pain it gave was anything to go by.

Before the smoke even finished clearing, Igneel opened his maw again and let out a bluish green tinted shockwave of draconic power that was about one third as big as Igneel was tall. It struck the pinsir directly despite it being covered by the smoke of the fireball and it resulted in another cry of pain and smaller cloud of smoke.

"No! Pinsir!" Cried Samurai frantically.

As they waited for the cloud of smoke to disperse, Igneel got metal claw ready to be used. It became evident that it wasn't going to be necessary when the smoke cleared out to show that the pinsir had passed out, the front part of its body being covered in burn marks.

Ash sighed. It had still ended up being a disappointment. "Good job, Igneel," he said to the fire lizard who just grumbled and looked away in distaste, not bothering to hide the fact that he was just as, if not even more so, disappointed as Ash.

"I should have known this was going to happen," whined Samurai as he used his League issued tablet to accept his loss after returning his downed pokemon. "Those two also defeated just as soundly as you did after all."

Ash looked up from the screen of his smartwatch, that was telling him about his rewards for winning with, with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You are a trainer sponsored by Professor Oak, right? Your charmander gave it away. Anyways, four days ago an arrogant kid passed through here and he beat me using his squirtle, spearow and female nidoran. Two days after that a pretty girl with a bulbasaur, a mankey and a spinarak defeated me just as easily. I should have known the results would've been the same considering that you, like them, are being sponsored by Professor Oak," he explained.

"Hm, is that so?" Ash asked rhetorically and he gave a mental thanks to Samurai for inavertedly telling him what to expect from both Gary and Leaf in case he encountered them had to battle them in the future. While he wasn't sure if Leaf would want to battle him, it was more than given that Gary definitely would and know he had the advantage of knowing three of his pokemon while Gary only knew about one of his.

"Yeah," responded Samurai anyways. Then he did some kind of formal salute. "I am afraid I must bid you a most hasty adieu, Ash Ketchum. I must tend to my pokemon for they are quite hurt because of our battle. I hope we shall have a rematch in the future," he said before promptly turned around and running away, his form disappearing into the bush from where he had come from.

Ash just blinked a few times in rapid succession. "What a wierdo," he said, wondering if he should include what just happened in today's report for Professor Oak, which he would be sending tomorrow first time in the morning. He just needed to write objectively the events of today regarding his team and an addendum with his subjective observations and speculations and it will be ready. He'd work on that while his team trained.

He had to chuckle when Igneel, Zephya and Rexus made different sounds of agreement to his comment.

* * *

It was in the morning of what would be their last in the Viridian Forest that he received a call on his X-Transceiver from an unknown number.

"Hey, guys! Let's stop for a bit," he told Igneel and Rexus who grunted their acknowledgement before spreading out a bit to establish a perimeter around their trainer. Ash then whistled in a particular pattern that he had established with Zephya that would let her know that he wanted her to come back from scouting. He heard a fain chirp of acknowledgement coming from the northern direction and he knew the regal avian would be back within a moment.

Ash then leaned against the bark of a tree and brought up the screen of his smartwatch to face level before answering the call. His eyes widened a bit when he saw the wizened face of his sponsor. "Professor Oak!"

The old man gave light smile. "Good afternoon, Ash. How are you doing?"

Ash fumbled a bit to get his bearings before he smiled. "I'm doing very well Professor. Thanks for asking. How about you?"

"That's good to hear. I'm doing very well myself, the lack of sleep due to my work notwithstanding, thank you," he joked and they both chuckled. Oak then sobered up a bit after he looked at bit at the background behind Ash's face. "Are you perhaps still in the Viridian Forest?"

Ash nodded. "That's correct. However, according to the location displayed on the map of my X-Transceiver, it should only take me a few hours to leave the forest and less than that to reach Pewter City. I should be challenging Brock if everything goes according to plan."

"Ah. I see. You are taking your time. That's good," he said before he sighed with some exasperation. "I just wish my grandson would do a bit of the same. He arrived to Pewter City for days ago, only stayed to wing his first Badge and he should be entering Mount Moon either tonight or tomorrow morning. Did you know he has caught fifteen pokemon already? I had to put my foot down with him since he was not even rotating them."

Ash's eyes widened. He didn't really care that Gary had already won the Boulder Badge. The fact that he has caught fifteen pokemon in such a short amount of time however… "… isn't that a bit irresponsible on his part? At his level he is incapable of taking care of so many pokemon."

Oak nodded in agreement. "That's what I told him and thankfully he listened to me when I told him that Leaf has only caught three pokemon herself so far and that you have caught only two," he said, making Ash wonder what Leaf's fourth pokemon was. "And don't worry. I didn't tell him which pokemon you caught. That would be unfair on my part."

Honestly, Ash had not even considered that possibility. Professor Oak was a man of character after all. Still, he nodded gratefully at him. "Thanks."

Oak inclined his head in acceptance before speaking again. "In any case, I didn't call you to whine about my foolish grandson," he joked again and Ash managed to catch the fondness in his eyes as they chuckled. "I wanted to speak to you a bit about the contents of your report. Before you jump to conclusions, I have to commend you going even beyond what I had expected. I would very much appreciate if you could keep the same format and quality of this first one. It was very pleasant to read through it."

Ash could only blush in embarrassment. Receiving praise for what could be taken as a research report from Professor Oak of all people was more than just a big deal.

His sponsor continued to speak, ignoring the embarrassment of the black-haired and red-eyed trainer. "What you wrote only served to confirm some of the suspicions I had for Igneel, a fitting name by the way, and it was nice to see that he was getting close to evolving. Regarding your pidgey, Zephya her name is if I am not incorrect, I am fairly sure that she possesses King's Nature. I have never seen a pidgey that big, not even when they were close to evolving. And your nidoran, Rexus, is a fine specimen of his species. I noticed in the pictures o you attached to your report that his poison his already strong enough to slightly dissolve grass."

Ash felt pride weld up in his chest at the praise his team received. "Yeah. They should be evolving any time now," he said before he turned his smartwatch around to show Professor Oak the current form of his pokemon, which were noticeably different from the time he took those pictures. Igneel resembled more a charmeleon than a charmander now and he had rose a few inches more in height, being closer in height to Ash's waist. Zephya, who had already returned and had perched herself on a nearby, looked like a small pidgeotto now and if Ash had not known better, he would've have thought she had evolved without him noticing. And Rexus, while he still looked like a nidoran, Ash would've a thought he had the King's Nature as well because of how big he was now.

Professor Oak made a noise of appreciation. "I can see that. It seems like they only need that final push that would trigger their evolution."

It was the moment that the old professor finished talking that Ash noticed how the three members of his team perked up before the three of them turned to look in the same direction at the same time, growing visibly alarmed.

Professor Oak immediately noticed the change in Ash's countenance. "What is it, Ash?"

"Something got the attention of my pokemon," he said slowly as he pushed himself away from leaning against the three and became as alert as his pokemon. His eyes widened in alarm when out of the sudden, Igneel and Rexus began to snarl and hiss in aggressiveness as they quickly moved to stand protectively in front of Ash and Zephya shrieked sharply before she rose to the air and began to fly in place above the fire lizard and the poison pin pokemon.

"What in the…!"

That was Ash heard the slowly increasing buzzing sound.

Oak heard it too through the microphone of the X-Transceiver and he also grew alarmed. "Ash! You must get out of there! That's a-!"

"… beedrill swarm," interrupted Ash with a faint voice as dozens and dozens of beedrill began to appear from the direction his team was facing and they quickly spread out around them, cutting off any possible escape route. "That doesn't look good." Ash felt the need to point out the obvious. There had to be easily more than fifty of the final state of the weedle evolutionary line surrounding them, all of them brandishing all three of their stingers towards them.

"Ash, listen to me," said Professor Oak gravelly since he could tell how dire the situation was even if he couldn't see everything because of the limited scope of the camera. "Do not panic. Two of your pokemon have super effective techniques against the beedrill. Stablish a perimeter and hold them off until they suffer enough loses and decide it's not worth it. You are strong enough to overcome this, Ash."

Ash nodded his head slowly and shakily. "Right. Zephya, cover our six and keep them at bay using gust and fast wing. Igneel and Rexus, spread out a bit and cover the front. Igneel, use ember as widely as you can and only use fireball if you can. Rexus, use the long-range version of poison sting and wind horn with those that get too close. We can do this," he instructed, his voice being more confident that he actually felt.

Zephya shrieked her acknowledgement before she flapped her wings to turn and around and face the beedrill that were on their back, releasing a concentrated blast of strong gales that forced those beedrill to disperse and their buzzing became more frantic. The beedrill on the front took that as their cue to attack and most of them shot forward, their stingers ready to skewer them from one side to the other.

Snarling in anger, Igneel's flame tail flared up and he jumped before twirling around lashing out with his tails, embers that were a bit smaller than what fireball used to be when he first used it coming out in a wide encompassing fashion. His poison leaking barbs bristling, Rexus opened his mouth wide and released a barrage of purple tinted needles also spreading in a wide range to hit as many targets as they could.

Accuracy had not been needed when using those attacks since there were so many targets that it was impossible not to hit one. Ash gave a short sigh of relief when the attacks of Igneel and Rexus found their marks, Igneel's embers forcing the beedrill to stop completely as they were significantly hurt due to how effective they were and Rexus' poison sting only slowing them down a bit. Thankfully, Igneel capitalized on this to send another volley of embers to that group before they got too close and only one managed to get in close range to Rexus.

Confident that Zephya was doing her job, if her furious shrieks and the occasional gale of wind that would ruffle his clothes followed by the pained sound the poison bee pokemon made when her wings smackied into the exoskeleton of the beedrill were anything to by, Ash watched with a grimace as Rexus slammed a wind horn into the middle segment of that beedrill's body before throwing its suddenly slack body away almost contemptuously, greenish liquid now mixing with Rexus' poison. The beedrill did not get back up again.

Ash, having been forced to hold onto his hat so it was not blown away by the gales Zephya was producing, watched as Igneel sent another volley of embers to keep a new wave of beedrill at bay. However, the black-haired trainer watched in sudden horror as a beedrill managed to avoid one of the embers and reached Igneel faster than what Ash could've issue an order, its stinger ready to impale Igneel.

It was with an explosive sigh of relief that Ash watched as Igneel stopped the attack using a metal claw enhanced right paw and followed it with using his left paw also enhanced with metal claw to strike the beedrill across the head, forcing Ash to look away with some disgust when the stuff inside the beedrill's suddenly wasn't inside anymore as it dropped down in front of the charmander. Ash turned back to look at Igneel, pointedly not looking at the inert body of the beedrill, to see the fire lizard using the respite he got to first sent an overpowered fireball that was bigger than what Igneel was tall followed by multiple dragon rage attacks.

"Keep it up, Ash! It shouldn't take too much longer before they lose interest!" Ash heard the voice of Professor Oak encourage him almost as if it was coming from far away. He was, after all, focused on keeping an eye on any beedrill that somehow managed to get through his team and reach him.

That was when things took a turn for the worse. Terror seized Ash when even more beedrill than before seemed to come out of nowhere and their numbers now had to be well over a hundred, the beedrill that had already been… defeated or otherwise… and were laying on the ground not included. Dimly hearing the voice of Professor Oak growing frantic, Ash felt more than saw how his pokemon suddenly became more aggressive in their fighting.

Ash watched how his team kept up the initial rhythm for a few minutes and his throat clenched when he noticed they were starting to get tired and what now seemed like an infinite number of enemies that wanted to kill them were about to overwhelm then. Ash suddenly heard the buzzing sound getting sharper and he turned towards the source to see a beedrill a few feet away from him heading directly towards him, the two stingers of its arms ready to skewer him.

"Ash!"

Ash had already reflexively ducked down, scrapping his arms in the process, before Professor Oak frantically called his name and the beedrill passed harmlessly above him. He then heard the frantic calls of his pokemon and he raised his head to see that they wanted to come to help him but they were unable to do so since they were being attacked by many more beedrill. Ash heard the sharper buzzing sound again and he looked up to see another beedrill coming directly from above to do the same as the previous one.

Ash rolled away and he felt a moment of satisfaction when the poison been pokemon hurt itself quite deeply when it smacked against the cold hard ground of the forest, its body sporadically twitching as it made pained sounds. Now on his back, Ash pushed his upper body up and he used his legs and arms to back away in order to make himself an stationary target. Ash stopped, however, when he heard a pained cry coming from Rexus.

He looked in that direction only for his eyes to widen in horror when he saw that the nidoran was being covered by two beedrill. Before he could call out for either Igneel or Zephya to help him, another sharper buzzing sound made itself known and Ash turned his head towards it source to see another beedrill coming towards him, its stingers aimed at his chest and abdomen. Instinctively, Ash knew that he was going to be unable to evade it because of his sitting position and because of how fast it was coming.

Ash closed his eyes shut, not wanting to see how he was going to die. _'I'm so sorry everyone! Mom!'_

Suddenly, Ash felt a gust of wind pass by him followed by the sound of flesh smacking against something as the darkness beyond his eyelids was filled with bright light as a terrible shriek of fury and hate resounded followed by two deep roars of anger, defiance and hate.

"Oh… my…"

It was when he heard the shocked voice of Professor Oak that Ash realized that he wasn't dead and he slowly opened his eyes, suddenly noticed that the constant buzzing sound of the beedrill sound was significantly dimmer. Ash's eyes widened when the first thing he saw was a massive tan, brown and pinkish blur absolutely massacre a considerable amount of beedrill in the span of two seconds before stopping, allowing Ash to see the evolved form Zephya, now a pidgeotto with a height of almost five feet, a wing span that doubled her height and a bulk to match.

Ash then heard a deep roar coming from where he had last seen Rexus being covered by two beedrill and a sharp gasp escaped him when he saw a full fledged nidorino using the wind horn technique followed by a snapping double back kick to get rid of those poison bee pokemon with almost laughable ease. With another roar, the evolved form of Rexus charged towards a suddenly frozen group of beedrill, his horn four times longer and bigger than before and likely possessed strength that matched how it looked.

And finally, Ash heard a snarling roar from where he knew Igneel had been his breath left him when he saw a five feet tall charmeleon shove two extremely elongated claws into the midsections of two beedrill before flicking them away. Then the flame tail, which was twice as big as before, of the one that could only be Igneel flared up before he released a burst of flames towards a group of five beedrill that consumed them completely. Igneel roared again in challenge, flames flickering from the corners of his mouth.

That was when the his pokedex beeped and Ash barely managed to comprehend the words it said.

 _ **Charmander has evolved into Charmeleon! Upon evolution, the moves Scratch and Ember have advanced to Slash and Flame Burst respectively. Upon evolution, Charmeleon has learned the move Fire Fang.**_

 _ **Pidgey has evolved into Pidgeotto! Upon evolution, the move Tackle has advanced to Double-Edge. Upon evolution, Pidgeotto has learned the moves Twister and Agility.**_

 _ **Male nidoran has evolved into Nidorino! Upon evolution, Nidorino has learned the moves Toxic Spikes and Poison Jab.**_

Ash, and Professor Oak through the camera of the X-Transceiver, watched as the newly evolved Igneel, Zephya and Rexus forced the remaining beedrill to flee before they suffered the same fate as the majority of the swarm, which were laying on the ground, some of them moving and twitching and making pained sounds with their exoskeleton noticeably damaged and/or burned while others were not even twitching and not making a single sound.

"Professor Oak?" Ash spoke with a small voice as he watched Igneel and Rexus walk towards him with satisfied and prideful expressions on their faces. He winced a bit when Zephya landed at his left side, he having to look up at since she was considerably taller than him when with him sitting down as he was, before she began to chirp worriedly at him, her voice deeper and louder than before.

"… yes, Ash?"

The black-haired trainer limply raised an arm to stroke Zephya's chest feathers in a reassuring manner, getting a satisfied and relieved coo from her. The other two then reached him shortly after. Igneel tapped his shoulder a few times with one his claws when he reached him, his prideful expression contorting into a worried one and giving a deep growl as he did so and Rexus expressed his own worry by grunting and nudging Ash's right leg repeatedly with his snout. Ash made sure to assure them that he was okay before speaking again.

"Can we please not tell mom what just happened?"

* * *

It was a very exhausted Ash that stepped into the Pewter City Pokémon Center, almost dragging his feet behind him. It was about the time he would normally stop for the day to set up camp and have the evening training session. After the mildly traumatizing and almost-fatal ordeal with the beedrill swarm, Ash had wanted nothing more than to get away from the Viridian Forest ASAP. Thankfully, Professor Oak had told him to not worry about the aftermath since he would make sure to take care of it. What he meant by that Ash didn't know.

Ash ignored the amused and sympathetic looks he received from some of the other trainers that were hanging out in the lobby as he made a direct line towards the receptionist desk.

Nurse Joy gave him a concerned look when she saw how exhausted and ragged he looked. "You don't look that well, young man," she said worriedly.

Ash shook his head. "Don't worry too much about me, Nurse Joy. I'm just tired. I got out from the Viridian Forest just a few hours ago," he assured her before he reached towards his belt, being thankful of the fact that he was no longer a shaking mess after the adrenaline had left his system, and presented her the three shrunken pokeballs that contained Igneel, Zephya and Rexus. He had returned them the moment he had caught sight of Pewter City. "However, I am worried about my pokemon. We were attacked by swarm of beedrill around noon and the three of them evolved mid battle in order to save me. I just want to make sure there is nothing wrong with them and see if any injury they got before evolving will have repercussions." Other than a few bruises, cuts and small puncture wounds that didn't look too serious was what Ash had caught when he inspected the evolved members of his team after everything had calmed down but one couldn't be too careful when dealing with the health of one's pokemon after all.

Nurse Joy gasped. "Oh my!" She exclaimed before she called for one of her aids to quickly take the pokeballs to the back so they could check the pokemon so they could give them whatever treatment they needed. After the pokemon were taken away, Nurse Joy looked at Ash up and down, relaxing a bit when she noticed that he only had a few scraps on his forearms. "It's relieving to see that you were not stung. Depending on where in your body it would've have been it could have been immediately fatal and humans aren't as tolerant to poison as pokemon are. You got really luck, you know that, right?"

Ash nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah. I am alive now thanks to my pokemon reaching within them and going beyond for my sake. I'm immensely grateful to them. That's why I want to make sure there is nothing wrong with them," he said with a smile that Nurse Joy returned lightly when she heard the last part followed by a nod of reassurance. "Thank you. Can I get a room for three nights? I'll be staying at Pewter for a while."

"Of course. Give me your ID number please." Ash did so and after a few moments she told him the number of his room and handed him the cardkey, which he pocketed right away. "I'll call you over the intercom the moment we are finished with your pokemon, alright?"

Ash nodded at her gratefully before he walked away from the reception desk and made his way towards where the many couches were and he sat on an individual one that was empty and didn't have many people close by with an explosive sigh of relief.

"Rough trip, buddy?" Asked one of the older guys that was there sympathetically.

Ash groaned and shook his head at him. "You have now idea. Me and my pokemon almost got killed by a swarm of beedrill. We were lucky to not become their evening meal of today," he explained.

The older teen hissed with a grimacing expression. "Damn. That's hardcore. But we have all been there, buddy. Not everyone can say that it was against a swarm of beedrill, but everyone that calls himself a half serious trainer has to face some kind of life or death situation at least twice or thrice. It's like a rite of passage," he said with some amusement.

Ash groaned again but his lips twitched upwards. "That's not encouraging at all, man."

"It wasn't supposed to be," quipped the older teen and everyone who heard his words, including Ash, laughed with him.

A few moments after everyone stopped laughing, Ash's X-Transceiver began to ring with an incoming call. Ash ignored the impressed whistles those around him gave when they saw his gadget as he raised it to his face to see who was calling him. He paled when he saw that it was his mother.

' _Don't tell me…'_ he thought with dread as he hesitantly accepted the call. "Erm, hi mom, what's up?" he greeted her nervously and he gulped when he saw that she was smiling sweetly at him.

Too sweetly.

"Ash Ketchum," she began with calling him by his name deliberately slowly as her expression when from almost saccharine to absolutely terrifying as she scowled fiercely at him. "What is this I hear about you not wanting Professor Oak to tell me that you almost got killed today? Care to explain? Hm?"

Despite how much he respected his sponsor, Ash couldn't help but think that Professor Oak was a bloody traitor. He had promised he wouldn't tell his mother!

For the next fifteen minutes, Ash was subjected to endure the embarrassment of having his mother switch between being immensely worried about him and his pokemon because of what happened, angry at him for not wanting to tell her about what happened and excited and happy because Igneel, Zephya and Rexus had evolved in order to save him while everyone that was within hearing range looking at him with amusement and trying their hardest not to laugh out loud. He was sure that this moment would be the most embarrassing one in his entire life.

"Promise me that you will never do something that dangerous again, Ashy! I couldn't bear if something happened to you," she demanded, a few tears appearing from the corner of her eyes as she looked into his eyes earnestly from the screen of his smartwatch.

Ash wasn't even going to bother on explaining how he actually couldn't consciously control if he faced a dangerous situation or not. He just nodded at her with embarrassed exasperation. "Yes, mom. I promise to try and not to get with anything too dangerous," he said, hoping that she didn't notice how he worded it.

He was in luck. Delia smiled at him. "That's all I ask, Ashy. I love you."

"I love you too, mom," he said before he said his goodbyes to her and he groaned when she ended the call. Ash dropped his arm and his head on the back of the couch he was sitting on with a groan. When he heard chuckling and snickering, he raised his head up to glare at the amused trainers around him. "Not a word."

That was when Nurse Joy called him over the intercom.

Ash stood up and he ignored the ribbing from his fellow trainers as they made fun of him being fussed over by his mother. He walked up to Nurse Joy who had a tray that held the pokeballs that contained his three pokemon in front of her on top the reception desk. "How are they?"

Nurse Joy smiled reassuringly. "They are now in perfect health. We treated the small cuts, bruises and punctures wounds they had successfully and the remnants of the beedrill poison that the energy released by their evolution had not managed to get rid off has been completely flushed out and a dose of antidote has been administered in the case of Charmeleon and Pidgeotto. A full night of rest will be enough to have them back to one hundred percent."

"Does that mean they'll be able to battle Brock tomorrow morning?" Ash asked hopefully after grabbing the pokeballs, shrinking them and attaching them to his bell. When Nurse Joy frowned at him he went to explain. "It's not like I only care about that! It's just that I promised them that we would have a few days of R&R after winning against Brock. I don't want to give ourselves a mockery of relaxation time with the knowledge of an important battle over our heads."

Nurse Joy lost the frown. "Ah, I see. That's how it is. Sorry for jumping to conclusions. And yes, if they rest soundly tonight they will be able to give their all during a gym battle tomorrow."

"It's no problem, Nurse Joy. I know you are just doing your job and looking out for the wellbeing of pokemon," said Ash and he returned the genuine smile Nurse Joy gave him at his words. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I'd like to head to my room. I am a too slow blink away from passing out and so tired I'm not even hungry," he joked lightly.

Nurse Joy just waved him away with a chuckle and wishing him a good rest of the evening.

Ash headed upstairs, tiredly waving at the group of trainers that had sat around him while he waited for his pokemon, to the third floor, unlike when he spent the night at the Pokémon Center of Viridian City since his room had been on the second floor. Ash was grateful of the fact that all pokemon centers had the same general design for the sake of simplicity and efficiency. He reached his room in less than two minutes. The room looked just like the one he had in Viridian City, the only thing different being the view.

The black-haired trainer wasted no time to hand his backpack on one of the hooks of the wall and he took off his belt and hung it up on one of the other hooks. Ash then stepped into the bathroom and took of all his clothes and put them, except for the gloves, hat and tennis shoes of course, inside the automated washing machine to have it cleaned. After that he stepped into the shower and he made sure to use hot water to wash himself thoroughly. After fifteen days of only occasional baths when he found a creek that went through the Viridian Forest, this was exactly what the doctor ordered.

After he was done with his bath, Ash stepped out of the shower and when he saw that the washing machine was now drying his clothes he decided he would worry about them later. He dried himself and wrapped the towel around his waist before he walked out of the bathroom and walked towards his backpack to pull out from it his sleepwear which he put on before he walked back to the bathroom to leave the towel right where it had been before.

Back in the room, Ash went and grabbed the shrunken pokeballs that contained his friends before going towards the bed and sitting on the edge of it facing the door. He took a deep breath before he hit the release button on the three pokeballs and Igneel, Zephya and Rexus appeared in a flash of white energy, the charmeleon and the nidorino grunted while the pidgeotto chirped their greetings the moment they got their bearings and caught sight of Ash.

Now that there wasn't any threat of death nor was his rushing to get out of the Viridian Forest, Ash could appreciate the finer details of the changes they went through when they evolved.

Ash focused first on Igneel. He estimated that the if he were to stand up, the flame pokemon would reach up to his neck thanks to the extra inches his horn gave him. The other details he had missed earlier were the fact that Igneel's eyes now possessed a turquoise color and that the scales of his chest, abdomen and undertail had a yellowish tan color rather than a cream color. Ash was immediately reminded of the scales of a dragonite. He was going to make sure to include that on his next report to Professor Oak.

Ash then focused on Zephya and he noticed that the only reason Igneel was taller than her was because of his horn. The normal pidgeotto was barely more than three feet tall when they recently evolved and only grew up to a height of five feet when they were about to evolve into their final form, pidgeot. Ash also noticed that the tan color was more prominent now and that the pigmentation around her eyes had grown longer and thinner.

And finally, Ash gave Rexus a good look. As nidorino, he noticed that Rexus possessed a considerably tougher hide than before, his eyes looked perpetually narrowed and his ears didn't look as out of place as before thanks his considerably larger frame even thought they still looked oversized on him. It was thanks to his hear that Rexus could reach up to Igneel's chest in height though. Ash also noticed that his horn was about as twice as long and thick as before and that his poison secreting barbs and spikes were both bigger in size and greater in number.

Ash tiredly grinned at them. "I know that I've said it a dozen times already but I wanted to thank you. It's because of you that I am alive right now and there's nothing I can do that would be a worthy reward," he said, his tired grin somehow acquiring a both a prideful and sad tone to it at the same time.

Igneel snorted, small puffs of black smoke briefly coming out of his nostrils, before he shook his head while growling and grunting a few times. After that he stopped 'speaking', walked a few steps until he stood directly in front of Ash and the black-haired trainer could feel the warmth coming from the stronger and bigger flame of his tail. The flame pokemon then gave Ash a feral and prideful grin before he pushed a closed fist into Ash's chest, pushing Ash back a bit, before he used that same fist to hit his own chest.

Zephya puffed up her chest and flapped her wings, once again displaying the fact that she had a wingspan of almost ten feet, before squawking indignantly at him. She then gave a short hope that rose her to the bed and she proceeded to use one of her wings to smack Ash over the back of his head while chirping at him in a no-nonsense manner. Ash was honestly reminded a bit of his mother at that moment, only that he felt Zephya was telling him 'Don't be an idiot, foolish human' rather than the 'Never do something so dangerous again, Ashy' that his mother would tell him.

Rexus just shook his head before he grunted a few times while twitching his ears and making a few of his barbs bristle as if he was emphasizing on some of the points he was making. After that he just walked to get closer towards Ash, nudged his leg affectionately with his snout a few times before he turned around and laid down next to him while pressing the side of his body to his leg in such a way that his poisonous barbs and spikes wouldn't harm him.

Ash got the message loud and clear. He chuckled wetly, quickly wiping away with his forearms the et of tears that managed to escape him. "Alright, you lot. I get it. I'm going to stop mopping now. We don't have time for that. Tomorrow we will face and beat Brock. After that we will take what is left of tomorrow and two more days to just relax and let the day pass by. You guys ready?"

The following roars and shriek were taken as an affirmative by Ash, who laughed happily before he wrapped his arms around Igneel and Zephya, who grumbled good naturally and squawked indignantly respectively.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap on the second chapter of Pinnacle! What did you guys think?**

 **I decided to cut it off here because if I went and showed what happened everything that would happen in Pewter City the chapter would be pushing 30k words and I'm planning to release chapters having 15k to 20k words in order to have more frequent updates. That, and I honestly felt that it was a good point to finish the chapter where I did.**

 **I will point out a few things. The ranking points, pokecredits and learned moves discrepancy that you will see in the update of my profile for Ash's Trainer ID card is explained that the fact that it all happened between his encounter with Samurai and the attack of the beedrill swarm. It happened off screen in a manner of speaking. I won't always give exposition on what happened during the days that will pass between scenes when Ash is travelling but I will always make sure to make it clear that things did happen if you pay close attention to my profile updates.**

 **Next chapter we will have Ash's first gym battle against Brock, a few scenes that will work as world building regarding Pewter City and to develop the relationship between Ash and his team to more than just a trainer and his pokemon, which you saw the start of at the end of this chapter, and what happens in Mt. Moon. I am afraid that it will take a big longer to update since the chapter looks like it will be fairly long and I won't be able to cut it like this one.**

 **And yes, Crofty666, that's the date when the show started airing. Keep your ear to the ground so can get your reward without too much issues.**

 **For those interested in AHWA, I'm sorry to inform you that until my Pinnacle muse runs out I won't be able to write for it. I'm not skilled enough to focus on two stories at the same time while still maintaining the decent (at best) quality of the storytelling that hooked you up on the story on the first place. It wouldn't be fair for me to that to you guys so you'll just have to wait for a bit longer to get an update on AHWA.**

 **I believe that's is all I have to say for now! I am happy to see that this concept was so well received. My sincerest thanks! Make sure to leave a review!**

 **Muffin out!**

 **PD: Even though I am suffering severe symptoms of muffin withdrawal, I am happy to announce that I have lost 7.5 lbs. without exercising seriously, only following a strict ketogenic diet. I am fucking hungry all the time but it's sure as hell worth it. If the reason you are overweight is because of your eating habits, I highly recommend you follow this diet. It's pure basic biochemistry, my dudes. A bit expensive since what you need to eat costs more than your standard combo of a burger, fries and a soda, but I repeat, it is worth it. You'll start seeing results right away, I promise.**


	3. The Rock

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is part of the Pokémon franchise. The rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. I shall only use elements from the franchise on this piece of fan fiction for non-lucrative purposes. Make sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

 **This is the Reviews' Answer Corner. I will take some of the reviews you posted on the previous chapter and answer them.**

 **Jai Devnani:** There won't be a pikachu but Ash will most certainly have an electric type on his team.

 **frankieu:** Thank you for taking your time and reading it. I am happy to inform you, my dear friend, that you will get to see those repercussions not too far away from now. Just be a little patient.

 **The Straight Elf:** KYAH! SENPAI NOTICED ME! 0/0

Ahem. Now that my fangirl moment is out of the way…

It was actually mostly Traveler that inspired me to write my own realistic pokemon story. I'm just implementing elements that I would've liked to see in canon so they've been stuck in my head for literal years now. Oh, and don't be surprised if Rexus becomes similar to Nidoking skills wise. I'm taking direct inspiration, if I am allowed to do so, of him when I am developing him. I hope you can keep enjoying my story, senpai! 3

 **illerayn:** Moves evolving with the pokemon kind of makes sense, doesn't it? And that was exactly what I was trying to convey during that scene. I'm glad you felt that way! I have to admit, that I myself was LMAOing as I was writing it.

 **PhenioxMaster:** I have already planned all the pokemon Ash will get for his team and how he will get them. And in the case he had caught a poliwag, it would have evolved into poliwrath for the simple fact that I don't like politoed… at all.

 **demonicdemon485:** Ash will eventually not travel alone in the sense of being accompanied by actual human beings. Telling you how soon would be quite the significant spoiler for everyone else, so you'll have to wait and see. Oh, and I will treat myself to the most sugary and diabetes inducing muffin the moment I reach my goal of two hundred lbs. Before you guys say anything, I am six foot three and my skeletal structure is not small (I'm actually big boned, lol, if that is an actual term). That's my actual ideal weight for my age.

 **A Metalhead:** Nope.

 **Itachi0179:** It makes no sense to have attributed energy? Then what gives any move their 'typing'? The fact that they are being used by a pokemon of a specific type? THAT wouldn't make any sense because all pokemon can use moves different from their typing, even from types they are weak against. Why doesn't moves advancing to other moves make any sense if they are essentially the same thing only more powerful? Oh, and the reason it might feel like a GAMER fic, it's because it was a bloody fucking GAME to begin with! I am more than hundred percent sure that I will never achieve the greatness that is Traveler, as this story was inspired by it, but I am afraid that The Straight Elf, Traveler's own author, doesn't seem to share your opinion.

 **SPeCTeR-ll7:** Answering whether Ash has Aura or not in this story would be giving a huge spoiler. You'll have to wait and see. Wrong in all accounts regarding to what happened to pikachu, lol. And no, he didn't go to Gary either.

 **Omni-Creator Kami of Anime:** Look man, I also apologize for being so harsh, but not only did you post a review almost demanding me, the writer, not to do something just because you wouldn't like, you also DMed me about it. And it is not the first time you did it. So, I kind of snapped. Again, I apologize for that. And accept your own apology. Just try not to do again, for both our sakes.

I am still undecided pairing wise, since it isn't the focus of the story at the moment, nor will it be the main one at any point. If I ever decide to do a pairing it will likely be a Multi pairing, knowing me, and will be more than a background element but it also won't be a main aspect.

Dragon Dance is not exclusive of the charmander line.

No trainer will ever catch any legendary. Period. With the kind of realistic setting I am trying to create, the legendary pokemon will be legends for a reason, and it is not because they are so few of them and thus, getting a glimpse of one would be considered almost a miracle.

 **TigerJacob:** King's Nature is when a pokemon is at least twice as big as it would normally be, which generally translates to having more raw power and physical strength to work with than other of the same species. Do not confuse that with them being naturally stronger. That kind of strength only comes with training and experience.

 **Hybrid of Fate:** I told you, didn't I? For the third time now, I'm still undecided about the pairings.

* * *

 **Chapter three: The Rock**

* * *

Ash looked up at the imposing structure that was the Pewter City Gym building with equal amounts of trepidation and excitement.

After waking from what had to be the longest night sleep he ever had, the first thing Ash had done was to confirm that his team was back to one hundred percent just like Nurse Joy had told they would. The moment he had seen that they had never looked better, though he had thought that the fact that they had evolved played a significant role in his opinion, he had gone down to fetch some breakfast for himself after he prepared their morning meals. When he had come back to his room with his breakfast, they had been still in the process of eating so they had managed to share that moment.

Because the Pewter Gym opened its door to challengers at nine in the morning and he had woken up around seven in the morning, he had to wait around two hours before he could go and challenge the gym. That worked fine with him since he wanted to give his team a few hours to digest the food and a few hours of 'extra' rest before an important battle never hurt anyone. He taken that time to make sure that his clothes were properly clean and ironed.

When the clock of his X-Transceiver struck fifteen before nine, Ash had returned his team back to their pokeball after giving them a final pep talk and he had stepped out of his room after making sure that he had everything he would possibly need. When he had gotten to the lobby he had recognized a few trainers from yesterday and he had returned the greetings they sent his way, blushing a bit when they had smirked knowingly at him. He had also nodded and waved at Nurse Joy, who had sent an encouraging smile his way.

Ash then had taken the chance to appreciate the scenery of Pewter City while on his way to the gym, which he had been unable to do the previous day because he had been solely focused on getting to the pokemon center to make sure that his team had been alright.

Located in the northwestern part of the Kanto region, Pewter City had the massive mountain range that separated the Kanto/Johto region from the stretch of oceanic water that was between the joint regions and the massive region of Sinnoh. Within the mountain range is also located the Kingdom of Rota and the Tree of Beginning, which is said to be the place where Mew and Arceus started the creation the world. At some point during his journey, Ash was planning on visiting it.

To the west of the city were the relatively short mountainous forests that separated it from Route 23, the Victory Road and the Indigo Plateau and to the east of the city was Route 3, which lead to Mt. Moon, the second tallest mountain in the joint Kanto/Johto joint region. The tallest one was, of course, Mt. Silver, which is part of the mountain range that separates Johto from Kanto. The third one would be Mount Hideaway, which was located close to Pallet Town, followed by Mt. Spirit, which was located near Fuchsia City.

If Ash had had to describe his first proper impression of Pewter City he would have said that it'd looked rocky and sturdy. While Pewter City was a bit smaller than Viridian City, it still possessed a few tall buildings but it was mostly made out of structures that used different types of rocks combined with wood more than likely acquired from the Viridian Forest. Also, even though Pewter City's economy was based on mining the many minerals that could be found deep inside the mountain ranges that were close to it, there were a few farmlands in the direction of Route 3 and the space between the city and the Viridian Forest.

The Pewter City Gym was faithful to this theme as well. Having a height of what had to be fifteen meters at its highest point, the gym building resembled a gigantic stone warehouse made of dull gray rock, dark brown wood and some metal here and there. The design was very simple, but in its simplicity, it managed to convey the unmovable strength rock types were known to have.

Ash took a deep breath in order to calm his nerves before he walked up the steps that lead to the set of automatic doors. They made a whirring sound as they opened for him as Ash stepped inside and they closed behind him. Ash blinked when he noticed that he stepped into a small lobby that had a few couches and a reception desk, behind of which sat a bored looking teen that looked to be a bit older than himself.

The teen behind the counter perked up at the sight of Ash. "Hey, what's up? Are you here to challenge Brock?" He asked and Ash mutely nodded his head. "May I get your ID number?" Ash gave it to him and he watched as the teen quickly typed away at his keyboard before he nodded and motioned towards a set of automatic doors that would lead him further into the gym. "Go right in. Brock will be expecting you. You are the first challenger of today. Good luck."

Ash nodded at the teen in thanks before he approached the automatic doors and when they opened for him he walked through the arc further into the building.

Ash whistled a bit at the sight that greeted him. It was a massive arena with stands for people to sit in at the laterals and a pokemon battling field right in the middle. The field had to have at least seventy meters in length per half of that in width. Ash noticed that the ground of the field was made out of harsh and firm soil and there were many rock formations of different sizes scattered all over the space.

"Ash Ketchum, I presume?"

Ash looked towards the other end of the arena when he heard the deep voice calling his name and he saw a young man in his late teens standing inside the trainer box of that end. He had spiky brown hair, deeply tanned skin and his eyes seemed to be perpetually squinting. He was wearing a long-sleeved orange and black shirt, forest green cargo pants and black hiking boots. Ash noticed that he had a technological device strapped around his wrist that he couldn't make out but he could tell that it was connected to the metallic column at his side that possessed about abdomen height compared to the one that had to be Brock.

Ash nodded in confirmation as he stepped into the trainer box of his side of the arena. Ash blinked a bit in surprise when a similar column rose at his right side from the soil after it opened enough to let it fit.

Brock kept his face stern. "Very well. Because this is your first gym battle the rules are as follow. I will only use two pokemon while you are allowed to use your entire team. I am not allowed to make substitutions mid battle while you are allowed to do so. In order to win, you must defeat my two pokemon and you lose if I defeat your entire team. In the case of the defeat, you will only be able to challenge the gym again after twenty-four hours have passed. And finally, know that all official gym battles are recorded. Is that understood?"

Ash nodded once again as he reached for Rexus' pokeball.

Brock also nodded his head. "Excellent. Let's begin!" He then quickly tapped away at the screen of his device and the top of the metallic column opened up to reveal a normal pokeball. Brock grabbed it before throwing it high in the air. "Rhyhorn, I need your assistance!" He declared as the pokeball snapped open and released a rhinoceros-like creature with a body covered in gray, rocky plates in the middle of his side of the arena. Its underside and rear were smooth, and it had four short legs with two claws on each foot. It had a triangular head with narrow, red eyes, two fangs protruding from its upper jaw, and small, triangular openings on the upper sides. A spiked ridge ran along its back, and it had a single short horn on the tip of its snout. The slow, rumbling roar it released made Ash think of hundreds of boulders striking the ground at the same time.

Ash didn't waste any time to released Rexus right in the middle of his side of the arena. The nidorino also roared his challenge the moment he appeared, his claws digging into the soil as his horn, spikes and barbs began to secrete poison, the latter flaring up in response to Rexus getting ready for battle.

Brock seemed to hmm as he looked at the nidorino before he gave start to the battle in earnest. "Rock polish! And then double-edge!"

"Mud slap when it gets close enough. Then dig followed by focused double kick," said Ash evenly and in a normal volume, knowing that Rexus would be able to hear him thanks to his acute sense of hearing. His oversized ears twitched, which told Ash that his instructions had been acknowledged.

The rhyhorn roared before it began to glow with transparent dark brown energy. When it dissipated the gray rocky plates that made up its hide looked to have been polished to a shine. The spikes pokemon roared once more before it began to charge towards Rexus at speeds something its side shouldn't be capable of reaching. Ash knew, however, that the technique rock polish somehow increases the speed of rock types significantly.

Rexus roared right back at the incoming small stone tank before he raised one of his forelegs before sharply bringing it back to the ground the moment the rhyhorn as about twenty feet away from him. From the point of contact between the ground and Rexus' feet, part of the soil seemed to liquify into thick mud that was suddenly hurled directly at the incoming rhyhorn. The plated rhinoceros gave a cry of discomfort as its face was struck by the thick mud and its vision was momentarily stripped away due to it covering its eyes. Its charged had only been slightly slowed down, however.

Rexus then gave a short jump and disappeared into the ground, leaving a hole of considerable size, just before Rhyhorn reached him. Because of the hole he just made, and Rhyhorn being unable to adjust its curse since its eyes were covered, the rocky plated rhinoceros gave a roar of surprise as it quite literally missed a step and it made a groaning sound as its entire body and head were dragged on soil of the arena, leaving a small trench, because of the momentum it had carried.

"Rhyhorn, shake it off and get up! Use magnitude!" Ordered Brock, his face not changing from his stern visage.

Rhyhorn shook its head repeatedly for a few moments before it steadily rose to its feet. It turned away from facing Ash before slowly rising the frontal part of its body, ready to bring it down in order to carry out Brock's instructions. That was not to be as Rexus chose that moment, much to Ash's relief, to explode out of the earth in front of the rock plated pokemon covered in a thin aura of brownish energy. Rexus slammed his horn and snout directly into the rhyhorn's underside with a roar, visibly cracking it a bit.

Brock's pokemon let out a deep cry of pain as it was sent to its back due to the momentum Rexus' attack had carried, its stubby legs frantically moving around as it tried to right itself without too much success. Before Brock could issue an instruction, Rexus carried the third part of the instructions Ash had given him at the beginning and with its body glowing a faint white, Rexus quickly moved towards the upside down rhyhorn.

When Rexus stood at its side, he turned around to give it his back before it delivered a snap back double kick with glowing legs that carried enough force to visibly crack the plates he hit. Due to its weight, the rhyhorn was only sent rolling a few feet away but when it stopped its body was slack, the holes from which eyes could be seen had only darkness and its tongue was hanging out of its opened mouth.

Brock quickly returned it back to its pokeball. "Nicely done," he said before he taped away at his device after putting the pokeball contained the unconscious rhyhorn back to where he had picked it up. The upper part of the column closed around the pokeball for a few seconds before it opened again to reveal another pokeball. Brock grabbed it before throwing it in the same manner as before. "Graveler, come out to fight!"

The pokemon that was released was a living, bipedal boulder. It had a rocky crest about its small eyes. It had four arms, each with a three-fingered hand. The sound it made when it appeared resembled rocks smacking against each other.

Ash regarded the new arrival for a few moments before wordlessly returning Rexus. Despite not having taken damage during his fight and knowing that he was more than ready to keep fighting, Ash was already something akin to hot water with Zephya since he had told her that because of her weakness to the typing of the gym she was not going to participate. Ash knew that he could win only using Rexus, but he preferred to not add Igneel to the mix of pokemon already 'annoyed' with him.

In a flash of white, his starter appeared with a roar and his tail flame flaring brightly. He then locked eyes with the graveler, who smacked its chest twice with its lower arms as it raised its upper arms showing readiness for battle, and he snorted a few puffs of black smoke before brandishing his claws and pulling his lips back to show a feral grin, small tongues of flame trailing from the corner of his mouths as the flame of his tail flickered almost eagerly.

Brock had an eyebrow raised but he didn't comment on Ash's actions. "Rock polish and then rollout!"

"Dragon rage. Then get in close and use metal claw."

Graveler firs used rock polish to increase his overall speed before it hopped into the air, tucking its upper arm into its body with the motion, before pushing itself forward and started to roll towards Igneel at a speed that easily surpassed the rhyhorn's. The flame pokemon gave a snarl before opening his maw, releasing a significantly stronger shockwave of draconic energy towards the incoming spinning boulder.

The dragon rage exploded into smoke and greenish flickers of draconic energy the moment it hit its intended target that hid it from view. Briefly, Ash thought that this time it would like every other time a foe charged at Igneel only to be it stopped in its track by his powerful long ranged attack, like it had happened before many times. So, it was with shock that Ash watched as the graveler seemed to not have been even deterred slightly as it continued its path towards Igneel.

Thankfully, Igneel had been prepared to carry out his second set of instructions, his claws lengthened, sharpened and glowing the metallic white of metal claw and even though he was still caught off guard, he managed to raise his arm in time to grab the rolling rock pokemon. Igneel gave a wince as his arms buckled slightly from the force and he was pushed back a few meters, his feet digging into the soil and leaving a trail on the ground.

Then, with a fierce glare on his face, Igneel roared as he held his ground and stopped the graveler from pushing his back, his muscles bulging as he regained his with and exerted the full power of his not exactly insignificant strength. Thanks to the enhancement of metal claw, graveler was forced to stop its rollout out technique and it coincidentally stopped while facing Igneel. The graveler's face was contorted in a pained expression and it was understandable, considering that not only had it charged directly at a dragon rage attack head on, but metal claw had left deep gouges on its rocky hide when Igneel had stopped it and it had continued rolling with six metallic claws digging into it.

With a savage grin on his face and a victorious snarl, Igneel reared his right arm back in order to strike the blow that he believed would finish the fight.

Brock, however, wasn't about to let it be that easy. "Graveler! Counter with rock smash!"

The graveler groaned before it reared its own upper right arm back, it being outlined by white energy, before bringing it forward to clash with Igneel's strike. A small displacement of air resulted from the clash and both pokemon glared at each other as orange sparks of friction were released from the point of contact of their techniques as they pushed against each other.

The stalemate was broken when Brock gave another command. "With your other arm too!"

Before Ash could tell Igneel what to do and before the flame pokemon could react, the graveler used its upper left arm to strike the charmeleon across the snout with rock smash, ending their clash and sending the fire lizard flying a few yards away with a hiss of pain.

"Igneel!" Ash shouted in worry when he saw his starter land roughly on the hard soil but he quickly realized that it was unnecessary because not a second later Igneel rose to his feet with his expression etched in fury. "Use flame burst! Then dragon rage! Finish it with metal claw!"

Brock gave his own set of orders. "Defense curl! Endure those attacks! Then use rock blast! Don't let it get close!"

Igneel roared, the flame of his tail flaring brightly, before he released a burst of spreading fire towards the living boulder. The graveler, showing the remnants of its evolution from the geodude stage, gave a short hop before tucking its legs into its body and used its upper arms to cover its face, curling into itself and it stayed floating in the air. The flame burst struck the floating ball of rock and the attack barely moved it. The following dragon rage did considerably more damaged if the pained groan that came from the graveler was anything to go by.

The flame pokemon the activated metal claw once again with a deep growl before rushing towards the graveler. The rock pokemon had already gone back to the ground and uncurled itself only to see the charmeleon quickly approaching it with his claws enhanced with power that was quite harmful to it despite its defensive capabilities. Recalling the last instructions of its trainer, the graveler focused and dark brown energy coalesced into the vague shape of a spherical rock that it shot directly towards the incoming flame pokemon.

Igneel snarled at the incoming rock and he slashed towards it with his claws the moment it was within reachable distance of his metal claw resulting in him turning the spherical rock into small pebbles that smacked annoyingly into his scales. Igneel noticed two more spherical rocks heading his way and he easily repeated the same process as before, though he would later had to admit that the second rock blast had been harder than the first and the third rock blast had been in turn harder AND bigger than the second.

The charmeleon quickly noticed that no more rocks where coming his way and he quickly closed the distance between himself and the living boulder, metal claw ready to deliver the final blow. The graveler, however, was not about to go down without a fight so it quickly prepared a rock smash in its upper right arm to once again counter Igneel's metal claw.

Having had learned his lesson from before, Igneel quickly and suddenly changed his rhythm and leaned to the right, wincing a bit when it was still clipped by the graveler's rock smash enhanced punch, and gave a vicious snarl as he slashed at the living boulder's flank with a direct attack from metal claw, gouging out chunks of rocks as he did so. The moment the attack registered, the graveler simply dropped.

Ash watched with a grin as Igneel raised his right foot and put it on top of the downed graveler in a display of dominance before roaring victoriously and shooting a burst of flames into the air as the flame of his tail flared brightly.

They had won.

Brock returned his downed pokemon, his lips turned down into a small frown. "If that charmeleon haven't followed your instructions, I would be concerned about how aggressive and vicious it is," commented Brock a bit dryly as he gave Ash an impassive look.

Ash snorted when he saw Igneel suddenly tumbling as he lost his balance the moment the graveler had been returned before what Brock had said registered and grew defensive. "That's because I have not seen the need to curb it out of him. Igneel respects me and listens to me without hesitation and he gets along perfectly with the other members of the team," said Ash, growing a bit nervous when Igneel turned angry eyes towards Brock and began to growl at him, having sensed Ash's current disposition.

Brock, however, relaxed after seemingly seeing something that he approved off. Completely unlike his previous disposition from literally a moment ago, he shrugged his shoulders almost uncaringly. "Very well. He is your pokemon so you most know him better than I do. Still, do be a bit careful in the future, yes?" Ash nodded almost incredulously at his question while Igneel now looked a bit confused at the sudden change of atmosphere. Brock then allowed a small smile to appear on his face. "Congratulations are in order then. You have won your very first gym battle. Accept your rewards."

Ash heard his X-Transceiver ding with twice due to notifications coming from the League app but he first paid attention to how the upper part of the column that had rose next to him opened up to reveal the Boulder Badge resting on top of a dark brown colored disc labeled TM71. Ash picked grabbed them both almost reverently, barely noticing that Igneel was walking towards him.

Brock's smile turned a bit knowing. "That's a one-use-only technical machine for the move Stone Edge. That means that you have to be extremely careful on which member of your teams gets it. Also, even though your victory over the gym is already recorded in the League database, make sure you don't lose that badge. Not only are they still very valuable, but it is also hard, physical prove of your victory today."

Ash grinned and nodded happily. "Yes! I will! Thank you very much!" He exclaimed after he gave a few congratulatory pats to Igneel's shoulder, who grumbled good naturally before returning the gesture, and returned him to his pokeball. He would give him and Rexus a more proper congratulations in private when he returned back to his room in the Pokémon Center.

Brock just waved him off. "There's no need for that, kid. Now go. I have to heal the pokemon you defeat. And before you ask, despite how it looked, the injuries they sustained aren't as serious as they appear. They are rock types after all," he said, his voice acquiring a bit of pride as he spoke about his favored type of pokemon.

Ash, unknowingly relaxing further when Brock said that, tipped his hat at the gym leader before he turned around and began to walk towards the automatic doors that had led him to the battle arena in the first place. They opened for him and he stepped into the lobby of the gym building to see that the receptionist was still there.

The older teen grinned at him. "That was a very good battle! That charmeleon of yours is going to be a beast if you keep doing what you have been doing so far with it!"

Ash returned the grin and nodded in agreement before waving at him, receiving a chuckle and a quick salute from the receptionist, before Ash walked towards the other set of doors and they opened for him so he could step outside.

Before going down the steps, Ash brought his smartwatch up to his face and he opened the League app. If it was possible, the grin across his face widened. Not only had he finally reached the E rank, the battle having been worth one hundred ranking points, but he had also received a monetary reward of two thousand pokecredits. Ash also confirmed that his ID displayed the fact that he had challenged the Pewter City Gym and won.

Feeling like today had to be one of the best of his entire live, Ash couldn't wait to call his mom and tell her the good news. It didn't matter that he had unknowingly publicly embarrassed him the day before. She deserved to know of his recent success before anyone else.

* * *

The day after his first and successful gym battle, Ash found himself inside one of the natural parks that were located in the western part of Pewter City, not too far from the forested mountains that separated it from Indigo Plateau. He had a small, content smile on his face as he sat under the shade of a tree, his back leaning against its trunk. His messy hair was being caressed by a light breeze that also ruffled the leaves of the tree he sat under as his cap, along with his X-Transceiver and trainer belt, rested on top of his backpack which was on the ground next to him.

His smile widened a bit when he heard a rumbling purr of pleasure as the weight resting on his right leg vibrated and he looked down to see pile of red-scaled and flaming goo that was Igneel, who was laying prone on the ground with his head and chest resting across Ash's lap, his eyes closed in pleasure as his trainer scratched him in all the right spots. He also saw Rexus shifting a bit in his sleep as his flank, which wasn't covered in poisonous barbs and spikes, pressing further into the outer part of left leg. Ash knew that had Zephya not decided to go and stretch her wings for a bit and explore, show would also be pressed against him in some fashion.

Ash had quickly learned that all members of his team were suckers for physical affection. Igneel loved it when his head, neck and back were scratched or rubbed and doing so would result in the fire lizard being in his current state. Zephya adored to have her chest and crest feathers gently stroked and Ash had once seen her fall asleep as he had been doing it. And finally, Rexus liked to have the back of his ears, which thankfully had nothing poisonous there, jaw and flanks scratched/rubbed.

It was a good thing that Ash didn't mind doing those things for them. As a matter of fact, he actually felt happy when any of them would demand some attention and affection from him whenever they were resting, whether after a training session or after taking a break from walking and battling other trainers. Every time it happened Ash could almost feel how he was growing closer to them. In turn, Ash could also tell that their trust in him increased as well thanks to those moments.

Yesterday, after returning to the pokemon center from the Pewter City Gym and getting them checked up by the medical staff, Ash had immediately gone to his room and released his team so he could congratulate them properly. He had showered both Rexus and Igneel with praises, knowing that he was stroking their egos and their pride but it wasn't like he cared too much about that, before an annoyed Zephya had almost demanded a promise from him that she would be battling on the next gym battle. Ash, laughing, had agreed easily.

That had been the last time they had spoken about anything to do with training or the journey, deciding to dedicate what had been left of yesterday, today and tomorrow to just relax and do nothing that required too much effort. After the time they spent inside the Viridian Forest, what they went through while in there and yesterday's battle against Brock, that was the least they all deserved.

Zephya had been all up for that, unlike Igneel and Rexus, who had needed a bit more convincing.

Ash knew that while Zephya enjoyed battling and training as much as the next pokemon, she did it more for the 'status' it would give her more than for the sake of it, which was the norm with most pokemon. She desired to become a pidgeot not because of the strength and power it would give her, but rather she desired to gain that strength and power, hone it and show how she was superior to all other bird pokemon. The reason why she 'liked' battling was because it allowed her to show how superior she was to others that also dared to sail the skies she would one day rule over. It had taken him this much to understand that, but after doing so, he felt that he could work with her better.

Rexus, surprisingly enough, was a bit more complicated. He enjoyed battling other pokemon and gaining strength for the sake of it like was the norm. However, almost contradictorily to that aspect of who he was, Rexus also didn't feel the need look out for battles. To him, whether he fought with a certain frequency was not something to be worried about. He would fight if it was required and if he had to, he would enjoy it, but if he didn't, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Ash felt that this kind of went perfectly with the fact that Rexus had just wanted somewhere to belong and to pay his supposed debt to Ash for saving him those few weeks ago. Ash was just glad that it looked like Rexus had found that place where he could belong in the team.

And finally, Igneel, his starter and the first member of the team, was a very simple individual, but, in that simplicity also existed something many complexities. Igneel was prideful, stubborn, aggressive and vicious. Those traits, normally crippling for many other pokemon, were actually the source of Igneel's drive to become stronger every single day. His pride wouldn't let him be weaker than any other member of his species, so he had decided he would become strong enough to defeat his progenitors, whom had to be two of the strongest creatures living within the joint Kanto/Johto region, at the same time in battle. His stubbornness would not let him choose a path other than the one he had set for himself. The only way to prove you were stronger was to beat your opponent into the ground until they couldn't get up. And there was nothing he would not do in order to assure victory.

The only manner to describe such a thing that came Ash's mind when he thought of it was that it was simply unique and awe-inspiring, beautiful in a way, too. Many would think him crazy for it. Even Brock, who despite being one of the youngest current major gym leaders was also a seasoned pokemon trainer, had made a comment that had not been exactly positive about it.

Ash knew that the reason there were so very few trainers with charizard on their teams was not only because Professor Oak had sponsored only so many trainers in the past, but also because there were less potentially lethal fire types that could fulfill that role. Ash knew that most charizard tended to turn on their trainer the moment they reached their final stage, believing themselves to be too powerful to listen to their trainer. They would try to kill their trainer until they were beaten into submission by the other pokemon belonging to the trainer. That's why most didn't even bother to put in the effort in rising and training a charmander.

Ash also wasn't worried on that ever happening. First of all, he was more than hundred percent sure that Igneel wasn't going to be like most charizard. He had already proven to be that he wasn't like most charmander and charmeleon so there was no reason for that to change. Second of all, Ash could almost physically feel the deep bond the shared. A bond that wasn't born out of affection, like the one he had with Zephya or one that was born out of admiration, like the one he had with Rexus. No. The bond he had with Igneel was born out of the mutual respect and understanding that two individuals that wanted to reach the pinnacle developed for each other when they realized they were walking on the same path.

And as he sat there, enjoying the coolness of the shade alongside Igneel and Rexus and his soft smile brightening when Zephya swooped down from the sky, carrying different berries that she picked up for everybody which she began to distribute evenly between the four of them, even admonishing Igneel with a sharp shriek when he tried to steal some berries from a groggy Rexus, Ash could honestly say he wouldn't change a thing of his journey so far.

* * *

"That'd be fifty credits," said the pretty receptionist with a smile when he asked about the entrance fee.

Ash returned the smile before he told her his trainer ID so she could take the fee out of his accumulated pokecredits. When the transaction was done, she presented to him a brown and silver wristband that would allow him to walk through the entirety of the Pewter Museum of Science. As one of the city's main, and arguably the most popular, Ash not about to leave, which was going to be tomorrow first thing in the morning, and not pay it a visit.

The Pewter Museum of Science was located in the northern part of the city, not too far away from the mining factories that sat at the foot of the closest mountains of northern Kanto, and while it possessed all types of exhibits, its main focus was space exploration and prehistoric pokemon discoveries. Ash found both subjects very interesting, specially the prehistoric pokemon part, so him coming here was pretty much a no brainer.

For the first time since he started his journey, Ash didn't have anyone of his team with him and if he was honest, it made him feel a bit uneasy but he shook it off after a moment. While he could keep one of them outside the pokeball within the confines of the city, he was not allowed to have them out while inside the museum. Ash didn't like to keep his pokemon inside pokeballs for extended periods of time so he'd decided to pay a full afternoon for them to stay at the Pewter City Day Care Center to be pampered and showered with affection by experts in pokemon behavior and breeding. It had cost him fifteen hundred credits, but he had more than enough money to indulge them and they deserved it.

Ash smirked as he stepped into the first room of the museum. _'I know Zephya is going to absolutely love it. Rexus is going to appreciate the peace and quiet. Igneel, will probably act annoyed but I know he'll enjoy at least the high-quality food, that glutton,'_ he thought with amusement as he snickered, paying no mind to the funny look he got from another visitor that heard the laughter that had come out of his mouth for no apparent reason.

Ash earnestly began to look around the exhibition on the first floor. He quickly realized that the first floor was dedicated to the prehistoric discoveries. The first immediate room after the reception desk was filled to the brim with pictures, along with descriptions, of how the geography of the world was in the past. Apparently, all the regions were once one giant landmass before a great cataclysm occurred that forced the regions to separate and have the geographical disposition they possessed nowadays. It is also speculated that it was also around this time that Arceus and Mew began their creation.

Ash spent several minutes in this room until he had taken a good look at anything that had caught his attention, which was almost everything if he was honest with himself. Having two options to go forward with his visit to the museum, Ash decided after a moment of deliberation to go towards the room on the right. The moment he did so, his eyes widened in wonder.

He had just entered the fossil's exhibition.

And the first fossil that got his attention was the one that hung from the ceiling in the middle right on the center of the room. While it wasn't the tallest one there, it was certainly the one that called the most attention because of where it was located. While he walked closer to get a better look, Ash estimated that while the pokemon could have reached a height of at least nine feet tall, lengthwise it was probably almost double that.

The first thing the black-haired trainer focused on when he got close was on the skull, specifically its massive jaw. While the upper part of its maw didn't have that many teeth, the lower jaw more than compensated for it by having to rows of sharp, serrated teeth that the shorter ones had to be as long as Ash's middle finger… and that was underestimating said teeth. Ash then saw that its arms were a bit thin compared to the rest of its body and that it led to a clawed hand that had one elongated finger. Its claws had to be at least six inches long at the shortest and assuming that the arms were also this pokemon's wing, Ash estimated that its wingspan has to be at least twenty-five feet.

The body of the fossil showed that it possessed the strength to be capable of lifting what was sure to be a no insubstantial weight and Ash immediately though that the humps on it back could make for a good place to sit on if one managed to get on the back of this pokemon before it went flying. The last thing of note that got his attention was the fact that its tail ended in an arrowlike tip.

That was when a familiar voice spoke to his left and slightly behind him.

"I see you have taken an interest in the aerodactyl fossil," said the slightly deep baritone and with a mild start, Ash turned his head towards where it had come from only for his eyes to widen a bit when he saw the amused face of Brock looking at him, his still squinted but not as serious as before. "Are you perhaps interested in the field of prehistoric pokemon studies? I didn't peg you for the studious type, no offense."

"I actually kind of am, but none taken," replied Ash automatically before he replied to the rest. "I actually came to give the entire museum a look. It was one of the things I had to do while still in Pewter City. The other being challenging, and winning against, the Pewter City Gym Leader," he said a bit cheekily, getting an amused chuckled from Brock to which Ash responded in kind before continued speaking as he turned towards the fossil he had been watching before Brock approached him. "So, this pokemon is named Aerodactyl? That's rather fitting."

Brock nodded in agreement. "Indeed. We are pretty sure in its time, Aerodactyl was the unchallenged ruler of the skies," he said and when he saw Ash's raised eyebrow, he chuckled as he understood his silent enquiry. "I'm on a short break. I might be the Pewter City Gym Leader but I also do part-time studies into prehistoric pokemon. Not only were almost all of them rock types, but they also give us an idea of how things were back then. Besides, with how stressful it gets having my position, a guy has to have a hobby or two if I don't want to lose my mind," he said with dry amusement and Ash could see that he was actually serious about it.

Ash knew that Gym Leaders didn't have easy jobs. Not only were they supposed to accept challenges from trainers regularly in order to determine if they deserved to get a gym badge that went in the accordance to the level the had to have depending on their previous number of badges, but they also were in charge of defending their 'territories' from all pokemon related threats. They also had to work in tandem with the Police Force of their city to keep peace and enforce the law, getting involved more directly if whatever had the police involved if pokemon of certain level were involved.

With that in mind, Ash decided to keep on the topic of prehistoric pokemon. "So… can you tell me more about these fossils? I bet you know more about these pokemon than what is stated on their descriptions. I mean, if you are not too busy and are willing to share," he proposed hopefully, turning bright red eyes towards the first gym leader he challenged. Ash also noticed that Brock's attitude was much more laidback compared to the one he had the day before yesterday.

Brock's sudden grin was the only answer he got before the Pewter City Gym Leader began to drag Ash around the room to tell him about the fossilized pokemon in exhibition.

Brock first showed him the prehistoric pokemon that were discovered in Kanto and Johto: Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, Kabutops and Aerodactyl. Then they moved to the ones discovered in Hoenn: Anorith, Armaldo, Lileep, Cradily and Relicanth. After that they went to see the ones discovered in Sinnoh: Cranidos, Rampardos, Shieldon and Bastiodon. Following those, they walked towards the ones from Unova: Tirtouga, Carracosta, Archen and Archeops. And then they ended it with the fossils from Kalos: Tyrunt, Tyrantrum, Amaura and Aurorus.

When Ash finished hearing Brock passionately speaking about the prehistoric pokemon, he gave a disappointed sigh as he looked at the preserved bones of pokemon that likely died millions of years ago. "It's a shame that they are not longer with us," he said, fleetingly thinking how awesome it would've been to have any of those pokemon in his team.

Brock gave him a knowing smile. "That's not necessarily true," he said and he chuckled in amusement when Ash perked up at his words. "I know for a fact that the Devon Corporation in Hoenn had made great advances in… reviving, for a lack of a better word… the fossilized pokemon found in their regions using many, many genetic procedures on the fossilized remains that have been found. And Sinnoh has already been successful. I know that Roark, the gym leader of Oreburgh City, has a completely healthy cranidos and his father, Byron and the gym leader of Canalave City, has a full-fledged Bastiodon.

I don't know how far they are advanced in Unova, you know how… conservative… and isolationist… they are, you really don't want to know how we got 'their' fossils for our exhibition. And in Kalos, Grant, the gym leader of Cyllage City, has both an amaura and a tyrunt," he paused, took a deep breath and the continued speaking. "The Kanto/Johto League is founding Blaine's incursions in reviving our own prehistoric pokemon. We only have discovered fossils with confirmed workable DNA of the omastar and kabuto line and the success of the experiments are expected to be successful by the end of this year or the start of the next. You see, since I am the foremost expert on rock type pokemon, I will be in charge of overseeing their development and training them. My excitement should be understandable," he finished with a laugh that was equally amused and self-deprecating.

Ash laughed with him. "I think I can understand a bit what you feel. After hearing everything you had to say about those pokemon, I can't help but want one for my own team," he said before he frowned as a thought occurred to him. "Hey, Brock, do you think that in the hypothetical case a trainer somehow comes across a prehistoric in the wild and catches it, the League would allow them to keep it?"

Brock nodded his head seriously almost instantly. "Of course. If the trainer shows that he or she has what it takes to care such a pokemon, the laws established by the League itself about pokemon ownership are still applicable and not even the League itself would be able to intervene without possibly instigating an… internal conflict of worrying proportions. Though the trainer will likely be… encouraged… to take that prehistoric pokemon to a researcher associated with the League to run the standards studies done on a pokemon before they are registered in the official database."

Ash hmmed in thought before nodding in understanding. "That makes sense, I suppose," he said before he turned inquiring red eyes towards Brock. "Do you have more time to show me around the museum or is your break almost over?"

Brock checked his own X-Transceiver, which Ash noticed was also the latest version just like his, before nodding at him, smiling. "I've got a few more minutes to spare. There are still a few things to see related to the prehistoric era. And there's also the space exploration portion of the museum. I might not know as much about it as I know about prehistoric pokemon, but I can hold my own."

Ash just returned the smile before motioning Brock to lead the way. The Pewter City Gym Leader did so with a chuckle. Anything to postpone going back to his post either waiting for a challenge or behind a desk filling paperwork. Even if that thing was explaining a bunch of prehistorian and space related things to the newbie trainer with the most potential he had ever seen as a gym leader.

* * *

Ash was not going to lie. Spending two and a half days doing nothing but resting had felt good, he certainly felt better today than he did when he arrived to Pewter City, but the moment he had woken up at the crack of down and left the Pokémon Center, after leaving the cardkey of his room at the reception desk, and walked towards the eastern part of Pewter City, after restocking on everything he would need for his trip to Cerulean City, and reached Route 3 he had almost experienced the same thing he did when he first started his journey, now more than three weeks ago.

He was currently in a plain a few hundred meters north of the main path of the route and here were a few trees and random boulders as big as he was imbedded to the ground all around him that he could put to good use. He still couldn't see Mt. Moon yet but he knew that it would take him about four days to reach the famous mountain, he was not expecting to see it until his second day in but he was in no. He was going to take his time to do everything he needed to do, which included the fact that his team needed to have their morning training session of today.

"Come on out everyone," he said and in a flash of white Igneel, Zephya and Rexus appeared, giving him their own greetings as they stretched and yawned, knowing that it was time for training once again. Ash had told them yesterday evening after picking them up from the Day Care. Like had predicted, Zephya had immensely enjoyed it, Rexus had spent his time sleeping and interacting with other pokemon and Igneel had almost eaten all of the food in storage. Thankfully, the 'contract' didn't say anything about extra payment because of gluttonous pokemon that ate more than what their anatomy were supposed to allow them to.

Ash grinned at them. "We are back in the game guys…" Ash was interrupted by an indignant squawk and an imperious glare. "… and gal. That means that, as you know, morning training sessions after waking up and evening training sessions before dinner and going to sleep are back to being the order of each day. Before we start we today's morning session, I'd like to see you use the moves you learned and/or 'improved' when you evolved. Let's start with you, Igneel. I already saw flame burst and I know how it works. Let's see slash first. Use it against that tree," he said, pointing and one of the nearby trees that were in the clearing.

Igneel grunted and nodded in acknowledgement before he walked towards the indicated tree. Ash then watched as Igneel's claw on his right hand actually elongate, unlike when he used metal claw which was actually the steel type energy that gave him 'longer and sharper claws', until they were almost three times as long before he slashed at the tree with a snarl. The attack left deep, thick gouges on the tree that Ash was sure had to be at least half-way to reaching the center of the tree's trunk.

It gave Ash an idea for what Igneel could focus on for his training for now on, but he wanted to see his other move before anything else. "Good work, Igneel. Let's see fire fang now!" He exclaimed and not a moment later, the charmeleon was biting into the bark of the tree with his flaming mouth while snarling. Then, Igneel twisted his head and a good chunk of the bark was tore off, leaving a deep scorch mark where Igneel had bit that had a few embers across it. Igneel, with what looked like a self-satisfied expression, spit out the burning piece of wood that had been on his mouth.

"Rexus, use mud slap to quench those fires before anything happens," he ordered and while Rexus went and did just that, Ash motioned for Igneel to approach and he addressed his starter the moment he stood in front of him. Ash smirked as he noticed that Igneel was still a bit annoyed by the fact that he was still taller than him even after his evolution. "As expected, that was an excellent demonstration. Now let's see how we can make them stronger and more effective. You'll dedicated the mornings to master slash to the degree you have metal claw and after that you'll work on using both at the same time. On the afternoons you will work on mastering flame burst and fire fang and increasing the power of fireball and dragon rage, to keep strengthening your inner fire and inner draconic energy. When you get that done we'll see about learning new moves."

Igneel just nodded in agreement after giving a grunt that came from deep within his chest before he moved to stand at Ash's right side and turned around so he could see what the other two members of the team were now capable of. It would not do if any one of them was stronger than him after all.

Since Rexus was already close to the tree, he decided to go with him first. "Stay right there, bud. Use poison jab against that tree," instructed Ash.

Rexus acknowledged him by twitching his ears in his direction before he turned to face the tree. Ash watched as a substantial amount of poison began to leak out Rexus' horn until it was mostly covered by it. Then, poison type energy de color od a deep purple surrounded the horn and 'scooped' up the secreted venom in Rexus' horn and focused it on the upper third of the horn. Then Rexus grunted before he shoved his purple glowing horn into the tree and Ash whistled as it began to visibly dry out, going from rich brown to dull brownish gray, expanding from where Rexus' horn was imbedded into its bark.

Another idea came to Ash but like with Igneel, he decided to see everything else first. "That was excellent, Rexus. Let me see toxic spikes. Use it over there," he said, pointing towards a part of the plain that was free of boulders and trees.

Rexus grunted in confirmation before he turned to face that direction and took a couple of steps so he could be within distance of the space he was going to be using the technique in. Ash watched as Rexus' back spikes began to leak copious amounts of poison along with his barbs as they flared up. Then, Rexus began to leak poison type energy that scooped up the poison and began to converge it into a sphere a few inches above Rexus' back. When the purple spear of combined venomous energy and substances had the size of about Rexus himself, it shot upwards and at an angle until it floated a few dozen yards above the space that had been indicated by Ash. After a moment, the sphere separated in sever smaller others that fell to the ground, covering a not insignificant part of the terrain, making it momentarily glow purple, in front of Rexus.

Ash grinned. "That's going to be mighty useful. Alright. Rexus, you are going to dedicate the morning and evening training sessions to mastering poison jab and toxic spikes. When that is accomplished, you'll work on combining horn attack with poison jab to make it stronger and more effective. And when THAT is accomplished, we'll work on moves that will increase your effectiveness in close quarters combat. After that we'll see about medium to long range moves to make you more versatile and effective."

Rexus grunted in acknowledgement and nodded his head in understanding before he walked towards Ash's left side and sat back on his haunches, his ears twitching occasionally as he caught many different sounds around them.

Ash finally focused on the regal avian, who was giving him a nasty look, likely for leaving her for last. Ash chuckled. "Don't be like that, girl. You know it was not intentional," he said and the only response he got was an indignant chirp and a sharp turn of the head, making him give another chuckle. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. You'll always be first from now on, okay?" A moment of pause before she gave a short nod, still not looking at him. Igneel rolled his eyes while Rexus chuffed in amusement. Ash's lips twitched. "Thank you. Now, I don't need to see double-edge since it's just a more powerful tackle that gives you recoil damage. I want to see agility first," said Ash, briefly wondering if it was a coincidence that upon evolution she'd learned the moves she had planned to have her learn.

Zephya chirped before flapping her wings and shooting into the air. Her body was momentarily outlined with light blue energy before she quickly showed that she had used agility to defeat so many beedrill in quick succession when after evolving because she turned into that same blur when she used agility. After a few moments of flying around she stopped and went to fly in place right in front of her trainer.

Ash grinned at her. "Excellent like always, Zephya. Now, let's see twister. Use it against the tree," he said, pointing at the tree that had been previously used by Igneel and Rexus.

Zephya gave another chirp of acknowledgement before she turned around and, while still flying in place, she opened her beak wide. From behind her, Ash could see the air in front of her distort a bit as transparent green draconic energy began to rapidly swirl in front of her. Then, after a moment, a wind funnel with greenish draconic energy that was just a bit smaller than her wing span shot out towards the tree.

Ash's grin widened when he saw that most of its leaves had been ripped off because of the strength of the attack and the tree itself looked ready to keel over after taking so much punishment. He focused on the regal look Zephya who was giving her handiwork a critical look. "That was awesome, girl. Do you think that after evolving you can use tailwind?" Ash asked and her response was to cover herself in a shimmering cocoon of air while her eyes smirked haughtily at him. Ash chuckled. "Alright, alright. Stop showing off. Now, I want you to first focus on mastering agility and twister. When you have agility mastered, I wan you to work on combining it with tailwind and quick attack in order to acquire an insane speed enhancement. We'll also work on a long range move than doesn't require you stay stationary, unlike twister. I was thinking maybe air slash?"

That was when the tree could no longer support itself after taking so much damage and it fell to the ground with quite the resounding sound. Ash gave it a sheepish look. "Erm, took it long enough, right?" He said with a sheepish grin. While Igneel and Rexus snickered and chuffed in amusement, the expression on Zephya's face made Ash think that if she had been able to, she would have face palmed quite harshly right there and there. Instead, she settled for smacking him over the back of his head with her right wing.

* * *

 **Alright. Slight change of plans. I decided to just include the Pewter City happenings in this chapter. Why? Mostly for naming purposes and because to me it felt that what is going to happen inside Mt. Moon will fit better with what happens in Cerulean City. And truthfully, this chapter gave me a bit more of work than what I was expecting, mainly the second and third scenes. I have to admit that character development and dialogue are not exactly my forte. My writing skills are geared more towards fight scenes, world building and exposition… which sucks since character development and dialogue is what more often than not attracts readers.**

 **So yeah, I've got my work cut out for me.**

 **In other news, after debating on it for years (Not exaggerating), I have gone against my better judgement and used money that has been resting around for that same amount of time and bought a PS4. Wanna hear the kicker? It was actually a teacher of mine, who is a doctor, that suggested it after I told her that I was burning out with so much studying and little to no recreation. So yeah… I ordered it on Amazon yesterday and since I live in the DR, it'll take a few days to arrive. In either case, very soon I'll be posting my username so we can play fortnite, black ops 4 when it comes out, GTA V, brawlhalla, warframe or whatever is it that is being played nowadays.**

 **Be warned though, my username IS GOING TO BE muffin related. Still showing withdrawal symptoms, but slowly and surely getting better.**

 **Muffin out!**

 **PD: Sorry, no PD today. I'm going to keep writing the fourth chapter. Cheers!**


	4. The Mountain

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is part of the Pokémon franchise. The rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. I shall only use elements from the franchise on this piece of fan fiction for non-lucrative purposes. Make sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter Four: The Mountain**

* * *

It was during the early morning, not too long after the morning training session of his fifth day of travel, including the day he left Pewter City, that Ash arrived to the joint Pokémon Center and Pokémon Mart that was located just beneath Mt. Moon and not a hundred meters away from the entrance to the cavernous system built buy the League for trainers to go through it, instead of around it or over it like it used to be done in the past.

Like he had assumed, the expanse of Mt. Moon had become part of the eastern horizon in the late afternoon of his second day of traveling. He had noticed not only because the thing was so gigantic that it was impossible to miss, but because the sun had 'gone down' noticeably earlier than before. As the days passed and the closer he got to the second tallest mountain in the Kanto/Johto joint region, he noticed that daytime was becoming shorter. That was the most obvious effect the mountain had on the area.

In the past four days Ash had noticed not only the fact that there were more species of wild pokemon there, but they were visibly stronger. Not enough to give his team a run for their money, but enough to give them a decent work out that'd keep them warmed up and ready to go for more serious battles against other trainers. Ash had noticed that not only the numbers of trainer he came across increased, but there were more interested in battling him when they saw Igneel and Rexus at his sides. Zephya also got more than a fair amount of attention whenever he called her down to battle.

Despite facing significantly stronger and more experienced trainer, Ash still managed to keep up his streak. How? Well, he was still only an E ranked trainer and only E rankers and F rankers would benefit significantly from winning against him, the latter more than the former of course. The same logic applied to Ash. He wouldn't get any points, or credits, from winning against an F ranked trainer, he will get a significant amount if he won against an E ranker and winning against a D ranker, which was only hypothetical for now, would give him a lot of points and even more money.

Thankfully, the ranking system cannot be exploited so there were not upper rankers 'carrying' lower rankers. How was this implemented? The first stipulation was that you could only battle the same trainer in an official battle once every twenty-four hours. And the second stipulation, well, not only did a trainer with one rank or more above another trainer would gain nothing from beating said trainer, but if you had two or more ranks over another trainer, you were actually stripped of more points and credits that you would've gotten had you face someone one rank above yours.

And why two ranks? That was because there was still a chance at the beginning ranks for a lower rank to defeat someone one rank above them. However, when one reached B rank, the difference between one rank and the next were too big to even think that a trainer of a lower rank could ever defeat someone with a rank above them.

Now, one might think that this system was harsh, and it kind of was, but nobody complained about it and accepted it because it worked. This system not only prevented 'carrying' but it also outright stopped more experienced and older trainers from abusing less experienced and younger trainers for profit, both in ranking points and credits wise. It also encouraged trainers to battle other trainers that were on the 'same level', not only to make battles fairer but it also resulted in both trainers pushing the other, instead of just one struggling against the other.

Now, you might think 'what about those trainers that are still one rank but are basically the other because of how close they are to reaching it?' That's a valid question and the League's response was: So? That just means they are stronger and more experienced than you, so you go and get stronger and more experienced and deal with it. Also remember, that the moment they reach a new rank, they'll more than likely go through that exact same thing.

That shut every protester up really quick.

So, how did Ash managed to keep his streak going? It wasn't because Ash was almost a battling savant with extremely well trained pokemon whose very own natures made them superior to the normal pokemon, which were still facts. No, the reason was because of the trainers he faced themselves. They might have still achieved the E rank, but none of them were even close to the point they were almost about to reach the D rank, meaning, that while the battles were hard and pushed his pokemon and himself, they still came out victorious on all twenty-seven of them.

Fourteen one-one-one battles that netted him twenty ranking points and four hundred credits each. Eight two-on-two battles that netted him forty ranking points and eight hundred credits each. And five three-on-three battles that netted him sixty ranking points each and twelve hundred credits each. You do the math, but, needless to say, these past four days have been more productive than his first three weeks as a trainer regarding official training battles, ranking points and pokecredits.

His team had also advanced significantly.

Igneel had managed to master the moves that had been improved with his evolution (Slash and flame burst) and the ones he learned upon evolution (Fire fang), and he was already working on using slash and metal claw at the same time, working on it during the morning sessions. Ash had also decided to have Igneel learn the move crunch in order to make fire fang more powerful and more effective which he worked on during the evening sessions.

The continuous training of his fire type moves had helped increase the strength Igneel's inner fire, which resulted in those same fire type moves becoming power powerful. That didn't mean he had ignored the development of the strength of his inner draconic energy, practicing with dragon rage every day, which in turn made said move more powerful. Ash, however, was planning on having Igneel learn other dragon type moves in the near future in order to even out the development between both of Igneel's energy pools.

Zephya had also mastered all her moves and she was now working on using quick attack, tailwind and agility at the same in the morning training session. The afternoon training sessions were going to be dedicated to learning air slash, to give her the option of attacking at a distance without the need of staying in one place.

Ash was not completely sure on what Zephya would need to work after she finished learning and mastering the techniques she was working on currently, but he had an inkling that the best would be to build up on the battle style she was growing to, ranged attacks plus immense momentum carrying and extremely fast physical attacks, until she evolved once again. He'll run it by her after she was finished with her current tasks, but he kind of expected she would agree easily.

Rexus, likewise, had mastered toxic spikes and poison jab. He was now using the morning training sessions to work on learning how to keep his body enhanced continuously with focus energy, double kick, wind horn and the close-ranged version of poison sting to keep his spikes and barbs secreting poison, all of that in order to increase his prowess and effectiveness when fighting up close. To not overwhelm himself, Ash had Rexus do it one at a time. And he was using the afternoon training session to learn how combine poison jab and horn attack, which when he did would be included in the moves he was learning to use to enhance himself when fighting up close.

Ash knew that for the foreseeable future, that would be the norm, training wise, for Rexus: to learn and master a body enhancement move that he would later learn how to use permanently to increase his effectiveness and deadliness in close range. Ash, and Rexus too, felt that there was nothing more he could do in that front, they will look into the various mid and long ranged techniques Rexus can learn to make him more versatile.

' _I believe I have everything I'd need,'_ he thought to himself after stepping out of the PokéMart. He had first gone to the PokéCenter and had them check the condition of his team and it turned out the they were perfectly fine, not even fatigued, which was kind of expected. Not only had they become more resilient with evolution, but they also got a lot of resting time despite what Ash's schedule and admittedly ridiculous growth rate might suggest.

Ash woke up every day at six am in the morning and the others are also woken up because the alarm function of his smartwatch was loud and all the members of his team had a better sense of hearing than he did, specially Zephya and Rexus. Waking up was followed by the morning training session, which went on for a maximum of two hours. After that were the morning rituals, which included having breakfast, in preparation for traveling which didn't go for longer than half an hour. That half an hour also served for his team to rest after the morning training session.

Afterwards came four hours of constant travelling and battling, the latter which varied depending on how many trainers willing to battle he encountered and the stipulations of said battles. There was also the fact that Ash made sure to have Igneel, Zephya and Rexus participate in roughly the same amount of battles, which also helped in preventing fatigue. That was followed by one hour dedicated to lunch and a decent amount of rest.

After the 'lunch break', the four hours of travelling and battling were repeated once more and that was followed by the afternoon training session, which lasted for another two hours. That meant that they were done with everything extenuating before eight pm rolled around, giving them a bit more than ten hours of rest before they were back at it again the following day. And Ash could say without a sliver of doubt that his team took advantage of those hours, since they always went to sleep almost immediately after eating their evening meals.

After the visit to the PokéCenter, Ash had gone to the PokéMart in order to acquire everything he would need for the day and a half he would spend within the tunnels of Mt. Moon. This particular Pokémon Mart sold prepared kits that contained everything and anything anyone wanting to explore it. Since Ash only wanted to cross it so he could reach Route 4 in order to get to Cerulean City, he only got the basic exploration kit.

Ash double checked everything to make sure that he wasn't missing anything and when he did, he made his way towards the entrance to the tunnels, which looked like a gigantic, half-oval shaped hole at the foot of the eastern side of mountain. Right next to it was a sign that detailed everything anyone wanting to go into the tunnels needed to know, such as the best routes, the pokemon that appeared, which areas are best to avoid if, etc.

Ash walked into the caves and he released Igneel and Rexus the moment he noticed that the light from the outside began to dim. He addressed them as they began to look around their new surroundings with curious and wary eyes. Rexus' ears were twitching significantly more than they had ever done before, Ash noticed. "We are now inside Mt. Moon and we are going to spend around one day and a half in here. That means until the day after tomorrow there won't be training sessions or trainer battles. We are going to focus entirely going through, which means that you are going to only be facing the pokemon that try to harass us. Zephya won't be of much use in here so she is going to stay inside her pokeball for most of the time being…" said Ash and he paused as he trailed off.

Ash smiled sheepishly and chuckled a bit nervously. "On a side note, don't ever tell her I said that, yes?" His words resulted in Igneel snickering and Rexus giving a few chuffs in amusement, but they nodded all together. Ash gave an almost dramatic sight of relief. "Thank you. Anyways, following with what I was saying, Igneel will also be making sure that there is a constant source of light and warmth too since it can get chilly and dark in here," he finished and smiled when the two of hem nodded at him determinately, Igneel even flaring the flame of his tail slightly. "Let's go then."

* * *

If Ash didn't know better, he would have thought that the system of tunnels that went through Mt. Moon were the result of a natural process that took millions of years to become the quasi labyrinth that it was today. And while you could say that it had been technically natural, the process had certainly not taken millions of years, just a few months actually.

A few decades ago, just a few years after Professor Oak had infamously gone on to defeat the Elite Four and Champion at that time consecutively in a span of a month only to announce that he had no intention of becoming the Champion because he wanted to become a researcher, the at the time just Kanto League took on the project of making the path between Pewter and Cerulean safer.

For some reason that is still unknown today, the pokemon surrounding Mt. Moon are considerably stronger than the normal pokemon found in the western part of Kanto except for key places such as Mt. Hideaway, Cinnabar Island, Route 23, the famous Victory Road and Kanto's side of Mt. Silver. And the pokemon living on the actual mountain were around the same level as the that lived in the previously mentioned places. Considering that the path between Pewter and Cerulean had always been one of the most traveled to go from western Kanto to eastern Kanto, it was obvious why something had to be done in order to reduce the number of 'fatal unwanted encounters' with territorial pokemon.

It didn't take long for someone to have the bright idea of going through the mountain and, after many months of brainstorming and planning, that was how the Mt. Moon tunnels system came to be.

Now, one might think that building the system of tunnels would result in compromising the integral structure of Mt. Moon, what with its weight and the tunnels being located at what you would call the base of the mountains, but remember that the tunnels were made by onix and steelix, pokemon that are ground types and are capable of manipulating the earth around them like it was their plaything. With their help, building the tunnels without the risk of them collapsing was hardly an issue. Still, for the sake of safety and because it was best to prevent than to lament, every hundred feet or so there were steel arcs that acted as support 'just in case'.

The League managed to create a gigantic system of tunnels and caves that directly connected Route 3 and Route 4, thus making a safer path for people to go from Pewter City to Cerulean City and vice versa. The tunnels even became an ecosystem for many pokemon to live in. Curiously and weirdly enough, the pokemon that lived inside the caves were stronger than the ones that did so outside but nowhere near as strong as the ones living on Mt. Moon.

It was because of that reason that the pokemon that lived inside of Mt. Moon were known for being far from meek and easily scared, which was the usual norm for pokemon that preferred to live in such a place. While they weren't naturally aggressive either, they were known not to back down should they be wronged, threatened or if their established territories were being trespassed.

So, it was understandable why Ash felt that there was something wrong.

' _Zubat are supposed to go on a frantic spree at the slightest disturbance while golbat go an attack anything they perceive as dangerous. They are not supposed to do nothing as I walk with a freaking charmeleon and nidorino underneath them, barely moving an inch. I would understand if one or two sandshrew and paras flew at the sight of Igneel and Rexus, but complete groups of them being led by sandslash and parasect? And what's up with geodude and graveler not even reacting when we walk pass them? And why haven't I seen any more trainers going through here? The tunnels are immense, but not to the point it's likely to not see anyone while inside this place. I don't like this at all,'_ thought Ash, a disturbed expression on his face as he continued to make his way through the tunnels.

It had turned out that deciding to keep Igneel and Rexus outside while they made their way through the tunnels had been an excellent idea. Ash could tell that while not to a degree that could prove to be jeopardizing to a person's wellbeing, the temperature inside the caves was significantly lower than outside of it and the later it got, the cold increased. Also, if it weren't for the light produced by Igneel's tail flame and his own flashlight when he needed to light up an area that was a bit further away, it would be so dark that Ash doubted he would be able to see his hand if he held it in front of his face.

Rexus' exceptional sense of hearing also came in handy when it came to knowing about any pokemon they might run into so they could decide whether to avoid it or go straight towards it and face it since Ash knew that unlike the pokemon outside, the ones in here were actually close to the level of his own team, meaning that Igneel and Rexus could get a very decent work out as substitution for the training sessions they weren't going to get tonight and tomorrow. Even though it kind of turned out to be a waste because of the… worryingly strange behavior of the pokemon inside Mt. Moon, he was still glad that he had the foresight to do so.

' _Can't thank mom and Professor Oak for teaching me how to take everything I know into consideration before thinking about what I am going to do and then actually doing it,'_ he thought to himself sheepishly as he recalled his younger days when he would act first and think things through never. He was glad he had outgrown that annoying, and very possibly fatal, habit before he set out on his journey.

Ash checked the time on his smartwatch and he was not surprised to see that it was about the time the evening training session was usually wrapping up so they could have their evening meals before calling it a day. Glancing at his pokemon, Ash could tell that Igneel and Rexus were more than a bit irritated about the constant walking through the tunnels and having pokemon they could tell were strong enough to give them a good fight flee or outright ignore them.

Thus, his following decision made a lot of sense.

"Guys, we are going to stop at the next cavern, set up camp and have dinner before calling it a day. I don't know whatever it is that it's going on here and I certainly don't like it but we will have to endure it for tonight and most of tomorrow. I promise I'll make it up to you, alright?" he said and he chuckled when he received almost dismissive and/or affronted sounds from his friends. It seemed like even though they were annoyed by what was happening, they were still more than up to the task of toughing it up.

' _That's so like them,'_ Ash thought to himself fondly.

After a few more minutes of walking the arrived to a medium sized circular cavern that had a ceiling so high that the light produced by Igneel wasn't enough to illuminate it but Ash managed to do so using his flashlight, which he also used to confirm that there wasn't anything there that could prove perilous to their health. Other than a small nest of Zubat huddled together and not moving nor making a sound perched upside down on the ceiling and a few rocks that turned out to be camouflaged geodude, there was nothing else other than them there.

Deeming it safe enough, Ash released Zephya and he regaled her with everything he and the others had done in her 'absence' as he prepared his sleeping bag and their meals for dinner. For some weird reason, Ash felt that Zephya, even though he could tell shared the uneasiness about the current unexplainable situation with the pokemon inside Mt. Moon, was glad that things had gone uneventfully while she was confined to her pokeball for the time being.

' _I'm not even going to point out how she clearly hates this place,'_ Ash thought to himself as he ate his dinner berry salad and beef jerky in silence. While Igneel and Rexus had gotten used to the tunnels after a few hours, and it showed since they were totally focusing on destroying their evening meal, it was easy to tell that Zephya would never get used to them by the imperious nasty glare she would send her surroundings when she rose up from focusing on her own food.

After everyone was done eating Igneel, Zephya and Rexus immediately went to sleep, all of the curled up close in order to enjoy the comfortable warmth that was produced by the fire lizard. Normally, Ash would stay up for a few more minutes, studying more about the members of his team in case he got any idea for further development or adding paragraphs for his next report to Professor Oak, which was due in a few days by the way, but he decided to go to sleep at the same time as his team.

He'd have more than enough time later on.

* * *

It was the feeling of something light resting on his chest and a repetitive and insistent poking on his cheek that woke Ash up.

' _The hell?'_ He thought to himself as he frowned while his eyes were still closed as he tried to move his face away from whatever it was that was poking him to no avail. He gave up when the poking somehow became even more insistent and that was when his brain actually registered what was happening.

 _Something_ was _poking_ him and neither of his friends had done anything about it.

Ash's eyes snapped open and he stared.

A pink, cherubic face stared right back at him with a triumphant expression.

Ash gasped.

And that was what immediately woke his team from their slumber and it took less than a second for them to see what was happening. In their still sleep addled mind, they only saw a pink pokemon sitting on the chest of their trainer, one of its fingers pressed into his cheek, and the face of their trainer contorted in shock after making a sound that made it seem like he was in pain.

Their following reaction was understandable after taking into consideration those factors.

With a snarl, Igneel's tail flame flared as he shot to his feet and reared his arm back, his claws glowing and elongating until they were almost four times as long as before as he enhanced them with the power of metal claw and slash. Zephya screeched as she flapped her wings, which began to glow with the power of wing attack. Rexus' barbs and spikes flared as he began to leak out poison, lowering his head so the glowing wind horn technique was directly aimed towards the pokemon sitting on Ash's chest as he looked ready to charge towards it.

The pink creature noticed this and with a frightened squeak its triumphant expression quickly morphed into one of fright before it buried its face into Ash's neck, its entire body trembling.

Ash saw this and this he quickly realized why when he saw his team ready to attack the harmless pokemon that had woken him up. "Hey! Stop! It's okay! I'm okay! It's not doing anything to me! Hey!" He quickly told them as he rose to a sitting positing while wrapping his arms gently around the pink creature that was roughly as tall as his upper body, neck and head not included, but considerably wider. "Calm down, guys… and gal."

Hearing Ash speaking with no infliction of pain in his voice was enough to prevent his team from attacking right away and that was enough for their brains to finally analyze everything their senses had registered and when they realized that they had overreacted over their trainer not being in danger at all, they almost sheepishly lost their aggressiveness as they began to make apologetic sounds towards the still frightened pokemon.

As he grunted his apology, Rexus had a perplexed expression on his face as he looked at the pink pokemon. How the hell had this pokemon approached them without him hearing it?

Ash rolled his eyes fondly, not faulting them for overreaction when it came to protecting him from harm. He was not stupid enough to chastise them for it since he was sure that it could possible saved his life in the future. The Viridian Forest certainly made sure he knew that.

Instead, he focused on the pink creature that he was cradling and he momentarily swallowed his amazement in order to console and reassure the still frightened pokemon. "Hey, it's going to be fine. My friends just thought you were going to harm me and they just reacted before they could tell you weren't actually harming me. They are not going to hurt you, see? They are even apologizing," he said to it, softly rubbing its back in a reassuring fashion.

The pink pokemon stopped trembling when it heard Ash's words and it slowly turned towards the three pokemon that had been about to attack it. When they repeated their apologies plus a few more sounds from Zephya, the pink creature relaxed even further before it began to make a series of squeaking, high pitched sounds towards Igneel, Zephya and Rexus that made Ash think of twinkling stars.

Ash watched as the pink pokemon jumped from his lap and landed in front of the member of his team as they began to communicate and he released the hold he had on his amazement and he let it flood him. _'A clefairy! A freaking clefairy! Holy crap! Mom and Professor Oak are gonna flip when they hear about this!'_ He screamed in his mind, almost having a meltdown as he stared at the super rare pokemon rapidly 'speaking' with the members of his team.

The reason why Ash was almost freaking out was because of the sheer impossibility of this moment. Clefairy, and its evolutionary line, were not rare because they were endangered species or something like that. No, they were rare because, first of all, they were the only pure Fairy type pokemon native to Kanto, making them the only pokemon within Kanto that made a dragonite, a _fucking dragonite,_ think twice before facing them in the wild.

And more often than not, it resulted in the dragonite deciding not to risk such an encounter.

The second reason was because it was now accepted as fact that encounters with any member of the clefairy evolutionary line was not random. If you encountered any of them at any given time it was because they chose to appear before you. It was believed that they only chose to appear before those that were righteous of heart and free of ever falling into an evil and wicked path. Even thought it was only a theory based on speculation, recalling that and watching as the clefairy explained something to an understanding Rexus, Ash couldn't help but feel a bit proud of himself because of it.

For that reason, the number of trainers with a member of the clefairy evolutionary line in their team was only in the double digits… in the entire world. A clefairy choosing to appear before you was one thing but deciding to become a trainer's pokemon was another matter entirely.

Ash's reaction was completely understandable.

He perked up when suddenly Igneel, Zephya and Rexus turned towards him with worried, but determined, expression on their faces while the expression on the clefairy's face, while also worried, was pleading. Then, after receiving looks from Rexus and Zephya, Igneel stepped forward and began to growl and grunt at a fast pace while motioning with his arms first to himself, Ash and Rexus, then to the clefairy, then to Ash and finally to all of their surroundings.

It took him a moment to understand what he was trying say and when he did, his eyes widened. He turned towards the clefairy. "You know why the pokemon that live here are behaving so strangely?" When it nodded rapidly with almost its entire body, Ash continued. "And you want our help to solve it?" Another nod. Ash looked at its pleading expression and then towards the determined expression on the faces of his team before making a decision. He smiled at the clefairy. "Sure, we'll help."

Even though Ash didn't expect the following happy squeal and hug from the clefairy, he still laughed merrily as he returned the thankful hug.

Before they went on to help the clefairy with whatever it was that was causing the strange behavior on the pokemon, Ash had them all eat their morning meal before setting out. This allowed Ash to realize that the situation was very serious, because not only at first even Igneel, who was a glutton at the best of times, refused to eat, likely wanting to go and help out as soon as possible, but when he finally managed to convince them that going out on an empty stomach would be detrimental, even Zephya had been almost frantic with her eating.

After they were done having breakfast and he put his sleeping bag away, Ash returned Zephya and turned towards the clefairy. "Lead the way."

The pink fairy pokemon squeaked and nodded before it turned towards one of the entrances of the cave and began _'skip'_ away in that direction. Ash, Igneel and Rexus were quick to follow and Ash noticed that the clefairy was very light on its feet, not making a sound as it moved. Ash also noticed that occasionally, the small wings on its back would glow with rainbow colored energy, which would result in the clefairy staying in the air for a few more seconds that what it normally would when its wings didn't glow.

Ash blinked a few times. _'Huh, that explains how it managed to sneak upon the others,'_ he mused to himself, noticing how neither Igneel nor Rexus were surprised by that, which told him that they knew about it before hand. Perhaps that was one of the things they spoke about?

Eventually, after almost an hour of walking (Ash also noticed that the clefairy had woke him not too long before the time he usually woke up), they reached an entrance to a cave that was distinctly different from others for the simple fact that it was obvious that bright light was coming from it. So much that because of the contrast with the tunnel he couldn't make out anything beyond the entrance.

With a surprisingly serious expression, the clefairy turned towards them and motioned for them to be quiet by making the universal sign for silence.

Momentarily wondering just how the fairy pokemon had managed to pick _that_ up, Ash just nodded at it while Igneel and Rexus did the same, the fire lizard even diminishing the intensity of his flames as much as he could. Not only would it call attention to them, but with the bright light coming from the entrance of the cave he doubted it would be necessary.

Pressing themselves as much as they could to the right-side wall of the tunnel, following the clefairy's lead, the group of one human teen and three pokemon quickly and quietly made their way into the entrance and quickly ducked behind a conveniently placed rock formation that not only partly covered the entrance from where they had come but also served as quite the good hiding spot.

Taking point and motioning towards the pokemon to stay low, Ash leaned forward and peaked around the rock formation to look at what clefairy needed help with.

He paled and what felt like lead made his stomach drop.

The first thing he subconsciously noticed that the size of this cavern was at least five times bigger than the one he had spent the night and where the clefairy had met him but the ceiling was about just as high, perhaps a bit more. The first thing that he consciously noted were the massive metal cages holding many pokemon from the ones that could be found within Mt. Moon. They were separated from species: sandshrew and sandslash, geodude and graveler, paras and parasect, zubat and golbat and machop and machoke.

And all of them with visible injuries that ranged from light to severe. It was obvious that they had not been 'captured' without a fight.

There were so many of them that Ash couldn't really count them all but he was sure there were at the very least one hundred pokemon caged, the weaker evolutionary state of each evolutionary line obvious being more numerous than the stronger one. Following that same trend, the weaker pokemon seemed to have already accepted their fate while the stronger ones were seemingly still defiant, if the look on their faces was anything to go by.

The next thing he consciously noticed where the thirty or so men and women wearing matching black uniforms with a bold 'R' displayed in the chest area. Ash could feel himself getting angry as he also noticed how every single one of them sported a sadistic and/or gleeful expression as they looked at the caged pokemon. Even though he couldn't hear them clearly because of how far away they were, Ash could clearly tell that some of them were mocking the trapped pokemon.

They also had a few pokemon out, more than likely for their own protection, and immediately saw a pattern there. There were mostly zubat, golbat, ekans, arbok, koffing, weezing and there also a few mankey, a primeape, a houndour and a houndoom. Right away, Ash noticed that the pokemon that were outside of the cages, all of whom belonged to the members of Team Rocket, seemed indifferent to the current situation those of their own kind were facing.

That was not normal.

' _There is nothing I can do about this,'_ thought Ash to himself grimly and bitterly as he did his best to keep quiet. He felt, more than heard, the shift in the demeanor of Igneel and Rexus as they picked up his own change after witnessing what was happening.

As much as he hated to admit it, there was no way in which he could try to face the members of the notorious criminal organization and come out the winner. Maybe, and it was a big one, his own pokemon could match a few of the ones accompanying the Rockets, but there were more than forty pokemon of unknown level surrounding the Rockets and the caged pokemon and as talented as Ash was, the odds he was facing were impossible.

' _However…'_ Ash's gleamed as he quietly brought up his smartwatch and, after making sure that the flash was off, he began to take pictures of the scene before him using the camera function of his X-Transceiver to get as much digital evidence of what was happening.

After he was done, Ash ducked back behind the rock formation and quietly sat down. He turned towards the three pokemon and he saw they were looking at him expectantly. Ash could see that Igneel was eager to fight, Rexus looked determined to do what was necessary and the clefairy was just looking at him pleadingly.

"There is nothing we can do," he said quietly and he hastily continued when he saw the outburst and outrage that had been about to come from Igneel and Rexus and the despairing and sorrowful expression that began to appear on the fairy pokemon's cherubic face. "There's just too many of them and we are not strong enough to defeat them. We can't do anything about this… but I know who can."

Under the curious, and hopeful in the case of the clefairy, looks of the pokemon, Ash quickly searched for a specific contact number on his X-Transceiver. After finding it, he quickly sent the pictures of the situation to that contact. Ash was glad that the League had the foresight of developing equipment that would piggyback ride the satellite signals all across the accessible cave systems of Mt. Moon, making it so contact from within the cave towards the outside was still possible even if it was with a bit of a delay.

After the pictures were sent and turning down the volume until he could barely hear the indicator sound, Ash went and hit the call option of the contact.

The call was answered just after the third ring.

" _Hey, Ash? How is it going?"_

"Brock. We have a problem. A big one," he said quietly, but gravelly to the Pewter City Gym Leader. Brock and him had exchanged numbers after the time they spent at the museum, the two of them striking an easy friendship over they shared interest in prehistoric pokemon. "Look at the pictures I just sent you."

It seemed like Brock could tell that Ash wasn't joking and Brock, Ash's friend, was seemingly replaced by Brock, the Gym Leader. He nodded sharply. "Very well," he said and then Ash watched as he looked away from the camera to look at the screen of whatever gadget he used to communicate. Ash could tell the exact moment he saw the pictures of the members of Team Rocket, their pokemon and the caged injured pokemon because a fierce and angry scowl appeared on his face. "When where this taken?"

Ash gulped a bit at the growled question and he quickly answered. "Not even a minute ago. I… came across them and immediately contacted you. I'm hiding directly behind a boulder that's near the entrance to the cave I found them in. What should I do?"

Brock looked at Ash directly. "Listen to me clearly, Ash. After I hang up, you are going to send me your current exact coordinates and then you will get away from there immediately. I will be there shortly to… deal with the situation," he said, the last part sounding particularly dark because of the manner in which he said it.

Ash nodded his head. "Roger that," he said and Brock nodded sharply at him once before the call cut off. Immediately, Ash scrambled to send Brock his coordinates, having an idea of what Brock was about to do when he said that he'll be there shorty even though he was more than five days way back in Pewter City.

After sending his coordinates, Ash turned towards the three pokemon to tell them that they needed to go, that everything will be solved quickly and he only registered how they tensed before a mocking voice spoke from the direction of the entrance he had come from.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Before Ash, or even Igneel, Rexus and the clefairy, could do anything they found themselves locked in place, an outline of bluish energy surrounding them as they were elevated above the ground by an invisible force. The only thing Ash was capable of doing was breathing as he felt how his body was forced out of its previously crouching position to a more upright one before his head was turned towards the source of the voice by the same force that shifted his body.

The owner of the mocking voice was a man that seemed to be in his early twenties, with a haughty and sharp face that was complimented by cyan colored hair pulled into a bizarre style that somehow fit him. Ash could see the distinctive red 'R' proudly displayed on the chest of his black shirt. The rest of his 'uniform' consisted of matching pants, white gloves that reached past his elbows and matching boots that reached his knees, a black fedora and a white trainer belt that held six pokeballs.

At his side stood an hypno, its sleepy looking eyes glowing the same blue that outlined Ash and the four pokemon as it held its similarly glowing pendulum towards them.

Despite being unable to do anything but breath, horror gripped Ash as he looked at the man and the entourage of men and women dressed the same behind him with similar pokemon as the ones outside the cages that were on the cave. And speaking of cages, Ash could make out a hulking machamp dragging another one, this one with wheels bellow it to make its transport easier, full of unconscious geodude and graveler into the cave.

"I wonder how did you manage to go pass the human repellant barrier Hypno put around here," he wondered, more to himself than anything else, before shrugging his shoulder. "No matter. I had Hypno bother with it because a sudden disappearance of trainers would have alerted the League before we could finish our operation here but I doubt one trainer that… got lost inside Mt. Moon would be missed," he said carelessly.

Ash couldn't do anything as the man finally deigned himself to look at his pokemon and his fear increased when a grin appeared on his face. "Oh my! What is this?! A charmeleon! You don't see many of those around, you know? Eh, nidorino are kind of common but this one looks fairly strong and…" he trailed off as he finally looked at the pink fairy pokemon and he froze for a full second before his face reflected pure delight mixed with shock. "A clefairy! My day is just getting better and better!" He said before he began to laugh, cruelly and haughtily at the same time somehow.

While this happened, Ash couldn't do anything but stare as the machamp dragged the cage with the unconscious rock and ground pokemon further into the cage and the entourage of Rocket grunts flanking or following it, all of them giving Ash evil and mocking grins as they seemed to enjoy his predicament.

"You know…" The cyan haired man began as he looked at Ash speculatively. "I was just going to have Hypno here snap your neck and make it seem like you were killed by wild pokemon, but I think that would be a waste. Instead, I have an offer for you. My name is Proton and I am an Executive within the ranks of Team Rocket. What do you say about joining us, huh? We could use someone as obviously talented as you are, you know? I bet you could become an Executive just like me in now time. It comes with a lot of perks, might I add," he said his grin becoming inviting as he spoke.

When he registered the man's words, Ash's fear and terror suddenly left him as if it had never been there and righteous fury began to replace it. Unknown to Ash, his red eyes began to slightly glow, along with the eyes of the three pokemon at his side, as his shocked became a fierce scowl. How dare this man even think that there was a possibility of Ash joining Team Rocket?

Executive Proton recoiled in shock. "What the fuck?! How is that even-!"

At his side, the hypno flinched and its eyes and pendulum suddenly stopped glowing.

With a growl that originated deep from within his chest, Ash snarled at the Executive. "Just who the hell do you think I am?!"

Right after his growl, Ash gasped and his eyes widened as the power that had kept him floating and frozen in the air was broken and he fell to the cold, hard ground of the cave with a thud, his back and head being the part of his body that hit the floor first. As he began to register some pain from those areas, exhaustion suddenly gripped him and he gasped again as dark spots began to fill his vision. He saw the clefairy moving… floating… to stand protectively in front of him and in between Executive Proton and his hypno as Igneel and Rexus charged towards the man and his pokemon, rage and hatred rolling off of them.

And then, as Proton's face twisted in fury, there was a sudden bright light coming somewhere at Ash's right. The black-haired teen only had time to feel vindictive glee at how fast Proton's face went from angry and red to fearful and pale before he heard the familiar voice of Brock shouting with clear anger.

"Let's rock, Tyranitar!"

And then _Mt. Moon itself_ seemed to roar, seemingly furious at the travesty committed inside of it, as another bright light filled his vision and Ash finally passed out.

* * *

Ash woke up to the feeling of warmth coming from where his feet were, something thin, but dull poking his left cheek repeatedly and another thing nudging his right flank repeatedly. As he heard numerous voices murmuring things he couldn't quite make out, he groaned as his eyes blearily blinked open.

The first thing he saw was the illuminated ceiling of a wide cave.

A delighted squeal from his left got his attention and he turned to see the extremely happy face of a clefairy less than a foot away from it as it began to clap and jump from one stubby foot to the other repeatedly, clearly expression the happiness it was currently feeling. "Huh?" Was the only thing that came from his mouth as he stared confusedly at the sight.

Ash then was once again nudged from his right and he turned to see the relieved expression of Rexus looking back at him with warm, but still narrowed, red eyes. As then felt something sharp tapping his foot twice and he turned towards the source of the feeling to see the also relieved expression on the face of Igneel, his flame tame being the source of warmth he felt when he woke up.

' _Really, what the heck…'_ thought Ash in confusion as he slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, his eyes flickering repeatedly between the three pokemon surrounding him. That was when he noticed that he was laying in some kind of mattress that was resting on top of a blanket of some sorts that separated it from the harsh

"You gave us quite the scare there, Ash," said a familiar voice and Ash turned towards the source to see a lightly smiling Brock quietly approaching him from behind clefairy. While Igneel and Rexus seemed slightly apprehensive, the clefairy clearly had no problem and moved away so Brock could near Ash. The young man with tanned skin offered a calloused hand towards Ash, who took it and allowed the older teen to help him stand up.

Due to him being on a soft mattress, Ash footing wasn't firm and he wobbled a bit until he managed to find the firmness of the ground. Then, memories of what happened suddenly rushed in, and he turned towards Brock as he released his hand. "Brock! Team Rocket! They-!"

Ash was interrupted by Brock raising his hand and shaking his head in a placating manner. "Calm down, Ash. They were dealt with," he said, noticing how his charmeleon and nidorino began to respond to Ash's distress. It had taken the clefairy (And wasn't that a shock when its presence had finally registered) assuring them that Ash was fine and the fact that they recognized Brock to calm down when they saw Ash's unconscious form after the whole ordeal was over. Brock was well aware that he could easily use his real team to contain them, but at their level, it would take an amount of force that would result in Ash's pokemon being seriously injured.

Brock had seen them battling the Team Rocket pokemon and, needless to say, he was still debating on whether their growth rate was either impressive or terrifying. Before the day ended, he would settle for a combination of both.

Ash took a deep breath when he heard Brock's words and that was when he finally looked at the rest of his surroundings. His backpack was resting against the mattress he had been lying on and a quick check with his hand told him that he had his three pokeballs attached to his belt, two of them currently empty since Igneel and Rexus were out. He then noticed the amount of people that were in the cave that he recognized as the one he had encountered Team Rocket in and the fact that the cages holding the pokemon were no longer there.

Ash could see that the people around them were a mix of the Pokémon Ranger Corps and medical personel. The medics were currently treating the no-longer-captured pokemon that Ash dimly remembered had the most severe injuries, with most of them being geodude and graveler, which Ash also remembered were the species that the last cage Team Rocket had brought in contained. That also told him that at most, it's just been a few hours since he passed out.

The Pokémon Ranger Corps were a branch of the League that responded directly to the Gym Leader of the city, in this case, Brock or the League representative of the smaller settlements they were located at. While the police force tended to the internal matters of the city, the PRC were the ones in charge of protecting human settlements from external threats, more often than not that meant dealing with rampaging pokemon and also protecting pokemon from the most… unsavory… kind of humans that existed out there. And example of the latter would be how they had clearly come with Brock to deal with the situation.

Ash noticed that everyone would once in a while glance in his direction, their eyes drifting to the pink fairy pokemon that happily stood at his side and still looking up at him with a happy expression on its face.

"Thanks to your… timely intervention, we managed to subdue and capture all the grunts and their pokemon have been sent to specialized League facilities for rehabilitation." Ash was pulled from his observation of the surroundings when Brock spoke again. Despite his narrowed eyes, Ash could tell that Brock's attention also drifted to the clefairy some times. Brock shook his head and focused after a moment as he scowled. "Their leader, however, proved to be a coward. He had his hypno teleport him away the moment I released my pokemon."

"He said his name was Executive Proton," said Ash as he quickly recalled the words the obvious leader. He was surprised at the fact that he could only feel a lingering amount of fury towards the man, nothing more and nothing less. He shook his head and calmed down when he noticed Igneel and Rexus beginning to pick up on his emotions. "After he used his hypno to trap me, he said that he had said pokemon put an 'human repellant barrier', whatever that is."

Brock nodded his head in understanding. "Psychic, ghost and dark type pokemon can use their abilities to make it so no one, humans and pokemon alike, approach territories that are under their influence. If this Executive Proton's hypno is capable of doing that, it gives us a rough idea of its level," he explained and there was an unspoken command for Ash to continue telling him everything else he could remember.

"He also made me an offer to join Team Rocket," he said and he grimaced when Brock's expression became sharper. He put a calming hand on Igneel's shoulder when he began to growl and he noted how the clefairy calmed down Rexus with a few taps to the safe places of his hide and a few squeaks. "He said that they could use talented trainers like me in their organization after he saw… the pokemon that were with me. That I could even become an Executive like him."

"That's worrying," mused Brock as he rubbed his chin. "That would suggest not only that they are still recruiting but also that he is not the only Executive within Team Rocket, meaning that he is not the only trainer at his level," he said gravely before sighing tiredly as he looked at Ash with an apologetic expression on his face. "I'm sorry that you had to go through this and that I'm forcing it to relive it. But is there something else that stood out? Everything he said could be a clue to much needed information about Team Rocket that we currently lack."

Ash nodded and told him everything Proton said word for word, managing to recall it perfectly somehow. When he finished, Brock nodded at him in thanks. "That should be enough. This is the first time we have encountered an Executive and stopped an operation this big. The implications…" he trailed off before he shook his head before smiling lightly at his black-haired friend. "No matter. That's for me and the League to worry about. You did well to call me as soon as you did Ash. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to arrive on time, not even with League-issued alakazam teleporting us in."

Ash nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah. Proton arrived not a moment later after I finished my call with you. If his face when he saw you was anything to go by, you gave him quite the shock and scare," he said and the two of them shared a chuckle. When the moment of merriment passed, Ash gave Brock a curious look. "So, what now?"

Brock raised an eyebrow at him. "Now? I will continue to deal with the aftermath of this ordeal while you continue on with your journey," he said before the gym leader was finally replaced by his friend as Brock grinned teasingly at him. "Do try to not get in more trouble, why don't you? First a beedrill swarm and now this? Honestly, Ash," said Brock before clicking his tongue repeatedly and shaking his head.

Ash mock glared at him. "Oi! It's not like I went looking for them! Those situations literally found me or, in this case, I ran into them by accident," he said with a matter-of-fact tone that sent the two of them to chuckling once again. Well, Ash's laughter had a nervous undertone since technically, running into Team Rocket had not been an accident, considering that he had come with the intention to help the clefairy with what was wrong inside Mt. Moon. Best not point that out.

"So…" began to say Brock as he deliberately looked at said fairy pokemon, who was happily chattering away with Rexus and Igneel. "A clefairy? Do you know how rare is to see one? And what does it mean?" He questioned with eagerness, reminding Ash of the fact that even though it wasn't his passion, Brock also delved a bit in matters of space every now and then. Considering that clefairy were said to have come from outer space, his excitement was understandable.

"Yeah," said Ash softly as he nodded his head. "It woke me up this morning and lead me on a merry chase through the tunnels after it insisted it wanted to play with me. That was how I ran into Team Rocket by accident," he said, this managing to lie convincingly since the only thing he was lying about was why he was chasing the clefairy.

"I see," said Brock simply before giving him an inquiring look. "Are you going to capture it? I mean, it has stayed by your side this whole time and it's obviously getting along with your charmeleon and nidorino. If that's not a sign, I don't know what is."

Ash's eyes widened at the suggestion. "You think I should?"

Brock shrugged his shoulder. "It appeared before you. The least you can do is not waste the opportunity. Besides, the worst that could happen would be that it tells you no."

Ash nodded before gulping. He knelt down and that gathered attention of the three conversing pokemon who turned towards him with curious expressions. Ash looked at the clefairy directly in the eye as he smiled nervously. "Erm, Clefairy? I was wondering if you'd like to come with me on my journey to become the best pokemon trainer in the world. I promise to- woah!"

Ash's speech was interrupted when the clefairy squealed happily and jumped into his arms and began to nuzzle his chest.

"I take that's a yes," said Brock dryly as he, Igneel, Rexus and most of the rangers and medical personnel watched the beautiful scene. "Man, I'm so jealous right now," he said, but his grin betrayed that his feelings were anything but.

Igneel gave a barking roar as he approached Ash and put a hand on his shoulder as he gave a fanged grin, obviously showing his approval. Rexus nudged his side and Ash could see that he was also pleased with the course of action that was just taken. Ash then recalled the earlier interactions and he could say without too much doubt that Zephya would also approve of the clefairy joining them.

As he returned the clefairy's hug with a delighted laugh, Ash's grin almost split his face in half.

* * *

 _ **Clefairy. The fairy pokemon. On every night of a full moon, groups of this pokemon come out to play. When dawn arrives, the tired clefairy return to their quiet mountain retreats and go to sleep nestled up against each other. It flies using the wings on its back to collect moonlight. Its adorable behavior and appearance make it popular with men and women, young and old. Though rarely seen in the wild, this pokemon is known to show itself on its own volition only to those that have proven to be pure and righteous of heart.**_

 _ **This clefairy is female and possesses the ability known as Magic Guard. It knows the moves sweet kiss, charm, magical leaf, pound, disarming voice, sing and wake-up slap. It possesses the egg move heal pulse but it has yet to be unlocked.**_

Ash lowered his pokedex and gave the newest addition to his team an impressed look. "You are way tougher than you look, aren't you?"

The clefairy's response was to beam happily at him and squeal. Ash just snorted in amusement as he pocketed his digital encyclopedia. He leaned back against the bark of the tree at which's base he was sitting, enjoying the fresh air that surrounded him. While the air inside Mt. Moon wasn't necessarily polluted, it still had dust particle that made it not as enjoyable to breath as the air outside of it. It wasn't really noticeable unless you paid attention to it and made the comparison.

After finding out that he had been unconscious for a bit more than two hours, Ash went and left Mt. Moon before Brock and his entourage were even finished dealing with the aftermath of stopping the Team Rocket operation. Ash had been assured that no pokemon, as far as they knew, had received crippling injuries and that the pokemon that had been confiscated from the Rocket grunts had been sent to rehabilitations centers where whatever that had been done to them to make them indifferent to the plight of other pokemon would be undone to them.

While Pokémon loved battling between them, with some even seeing it as playing, there was a big difference between that and not caring about other pokemon being abused. Sure, Pokémon were omnivore and the more aggressive ones would hunt other pokemon and kill them so they could eat their flesh when they couldn't find berries, which was extremely rare, that was just nature running its course and it wasn't like the pokemon suffered much beyond the injuries it got before being killed.

That was why the behavior of the Team Rocket pokemon was so disconcerting. If presented with a similar situation, most pokemon would act like the clefairy did, if it couldn't solve it by itself the pokemon would look for help. For pokemon to watch dispassionately as other pokemon were made to suffer by clearly evil humans, it meant that something horrible had been done to them. Thankfully, this was not the first time something like this happened and the League had rehabilitation centers ready for when it happened.

Brock had assured him that it won't be long before those pokemon were released to the wild or given to League sanctioned trainers.

Ash had also been pleasantly shocked when his friend told him that the League would be giving him a reward for his actions against Team Rocket. While he had run into them by accident, he had the sense of quickly reporting them to a League official (Brock) which resulted in the operation being completely thwarted, the most grunts the have ever captured in one sweep and learning more about the organization they ever had.

With everything said and done, Ash had found himself thirty thousand pokecredits richer. Almost as much as he previously possessed. For a moment, Ash was thankful of what happened, considering that it had resulted in him getting a new team member and more funds, but that sentiment quickly went away when he recalled the cruelty of the Team Rocket members, especially Executive Proton, the indifference of their pokemon and the suffering of the pokemon they had 'captured'.

Unknown to him, his red eyes glowed momentarily as his anger spiked momentarily. He only calmed down when he saw the concerned expression on the faces of his pokemon. He took a deep breath in and out to calm down. Even though the Executive had escaped, the grunts and their pokemon had been captured and subdued and their operation had been stopped successfully. There was no point in dwelling further on it. It was not his responsibility.

Ash smiled at his four pokemon. "As you can see, we have a new member. You already know and get along with each other so I hope that it stays that way," he said and his smile widened at the sounds of confirmation from Igneel, Zephya and Rexus, with the fairy pokemon hopping from foot to foot as she squealed happily.

"After thinking about it, I decided there won't be a training session today. Not only did we come out of Mt. Moon later than I calculated, I'm also sure that none of us is up to training after what happened in there," he said and he shook his head with a chuckle at the sounds of protests, and confusion in the case of Clefairy, his friends made. "I'm not budging on it. It's already around the time we would be finishing the afternoon training session. I believe the best would be to resume everything tomorrow."

Ash smirked a bit at the sounds with varying degrees of disappointment. Clefairy still just looked on perplexed. "Don't be so down. I'm planning on increasing the intensity of the physical training. What happened with that hypno will not happen again if I have anything to say about it," he said, earning determined sounds and nods from Igneel and Rexus. After some quick investigation, Ash learned that the psychic hold the hypno had on him and his pokemon was a move called disable and that non-psychic pokemon could break out of its hold if they possessed enough physical strength, thus, his decision to up their physical training.

As a matter of fact…

"And I will be joining you," he said, getting surprised looks from his pokemon except for Clefairy, who was still just looking on with confusion. Ash smirked at them. "I've neglected my own physical training the past month since I've been focused on you guys. Now I'm well aware that you only need general instructions on what to do for you to accomplish the goals I've set for you. And it's not like I won't be close by in case you need any pointer or correction," said Ash, recalling that one of the elements of the PTLEs had been an overall fitness test. He knew that he couldn't hope to ever achieve the strength needed to brute force his way out of a psychic hold, but there was nothing holding him back from reaching his physical peak. And the fitter he was the higher were his chances of survival against any eventuality that demanded physical effort on his part.

His decision seemed to please his three first pokemon and they gave their own sounds of acceptance and encouragement, with even Igneel giving him a fanged grin as he flared the fire of his tail. It seemed like he approved just a bit more than the rest, much to his amusement. That also told Ash that training his body alongside them with them would help increase the bond they had. And speaking of bonds…

Ash looked at the still confused fairy pokemon and got his attention by addressing her. "Clefairy." At the sound of the name of her species, she turned towards him, her expression still perplexed but now visibly happier since apparently his attention was on her. "As you likely noticed, all my pokemon have their own names. That is to give them their own identity apart from others of the same species and I also feel like me giving you a name you can call your own will help us become closer. With that said…" he trailed off as his smile widened into a hopeful grin. "Would you like to have your own name?"

Clefairy's response was to nod her entire body, squeal in happiness and throw herself at Ash. The black-haired trainer laughed as he held her and he watched as the others looked on with amusement at the affectionate pokemon. He looked down at her and rubbed the top of her head, right on top of her tuff of curls, making her a cooing sound of pleasure as she nuzzled his chest. "I'll take that as a yes."

After giving his first three pokemon a quick look, Ash decided to continue on with the trend of naming his pokemon after legends of royalties and deities of old. Perhaps it was corny, but Ash felt that giving a name around that sense would be like extra motivation for his pokemon to live up to that name and become the best version of themselves and, if possible, reach beyond even that. Call him sentimental, but you couldn't deny that Ash's pokemon were stronger than the norm, and even though it was likely not because of their names, you couldn't deny that they made those names fit.

With that in mind, the first name for Clefairy Ash thought of was Artemis, after the moon goddess depicted thousands of years ago in Johto. However, he quickly discarded the idea after comparing the personalities of Clefairy and the goddess. Artemis used to be depicted as a huntress that hunted for the pleasure of it and in the order of her father, Zeus, and was a notorious man hater. Clefairy, needless to say, was nothing like that.

Uncapable of thinking of other moon deities with names that could fit his newest friend, Ash went with another angle and began to think about legends of old regarding fairies. Almost immediately, he recalled the legend about the strongest female fairy. A creature that was supposed to be as loving as it was fierce when protecting the inhabitants of the forest she called her home and her subjects: the Queen of the Fairies.

"How about Titania?" Suggested Ash as he looked down at the fairy pokemon, who suddenly froze before looking up at him with an intense expression that told Ash that there was more to it than her just focusing all her attention on him. "Your species is known as the 'fairy pokemon' and you are a fairy-type pokemon. My plan is for you to be strongest you can be and the queen stands above the rest, not to rule them, but to love them all and protect them. So…" Ash trailed off as he got a bit uncomfortable by her intense and unwavering stare.

After a moment, an expression of such delight appeared that for a moment Ash thought that he was going to be blinded. With her happiest squeal as of yet, the newly named Titania went back to nuzzling her entire body against Ash's torso.

Ash blinked before giving a sigh of relief. He chuckled and looked towards the rest of his team, who were still looking on in amusement, and quirked an eyebrow in a teasing fashion. "I'll take that as a yes, wouldn't you agree?"

* * *

 **Okay, so before you murder me, I'd like to wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.**

 **I have a legitimate reason why I couldn't update in the past three months. For most of October and November I was just too busy with college and with my intentions being approving all my classes with at least a B+, I had to focus most of my attention to studying. That meant that I only had time to plan and outline the plot of this story and AHWA, which, by the way, should be the next story I'll be updating in a few days. The chapter is currently resting at 5.6k words so, with everything already planned and outlined, it should be finished by the weekend.**

 **With that out of the way, I have learned my lesson and won't make promises I won't be able to keep. The only promise I know I can keep is that I will never abandon my stories (Yes. That means that Potter and JotK:TWoD will also be updated at some point. It all depends on my muse). With that said, I will try to at least update Pinnacle and AHWA twice every month, but I'm not making any promises since I'm also focusing on my studies.**

 **Regarding the story, I decided to only show the happenings of Mt. Moon on this chapter since the next chapter will include everything that happens around Cerulean City up to a point. That would include: training and battles on the way to Cerulean, the Cerulean Gym Battle, the Nugget Bridge (kind of), meeting Bill, Ash getting a new pokemon plus world and character building. I won't be surprised if the chapter surpasses the 20k words mark.**

 **That's all for now. If I forgot anything, it will be addressed on the A/N of the AHWA chapter.**

 **Muffin out!**

 **PD: My ID on PSN is Muffin_4Runner (Not the Toyota vehicule brand, but a number/wordplay on Forerunner, which means precursor, as in, the first Muffin. I think its cool and epic) and if you are into CoD: BO4 I would love to play some matches with you whenever I'm on. I know, I know. You don't have to tell me. However, screaming at the top of lungs at the screen for the sheer bullshit is how I unwind best, lol.**


	5. The Cerulean Blues

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is part of the Pokémon franchise. The rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. I shall only use elements from the franchise on this piece of fan fiction for non-lucrative purposes. Make sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

 **This is the Reviews' Answer Corner. I will take some of the reviews you posted on the previous chapter and answer them.**

 **Valentine Vulpes:** Titania might be named after the Queen of the Fairies but she is more like Tinker Bell than anything else. I thought it would be funny.

 **Chosen-One-92:** I already told you over PM but I will repeat it here in case someone has the same complaint. With every updated chapter on this story, my profile is update with Ash's trainer information and the growth of his pokemon by the end of each chapter. If you have some difficulties keeping track of some things, either because I take too long to update or because of the sheer amount of information, you should definitely check it out.

 **HPfan7-8:** Sorry, mate. I've already planned for all of Ash's pokemon and I'm afraid none of them made the list.

 **Lezaroth:** Like I said, Pinnacle Ash, unlike Canon Ash, is highly intelligent and a practicioner of thinking before acting and common sense. Some people might say that I just created an OC gave it Ash's name. So? This is fanfiction. I can do whatever the hell I want… within reason of course.

Clefairy is also one of my favorites pokemon and the thought of a happy-go-lucky dragon slayer in Ash's team was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Yup. Heal Pulse FTW.

I think you'll like what I have planned for when the time comes for Rexus and Titania to evolve.

This chapter shall be answer to your final ponderings and I hope is everything you looked forward to.

 **.master:** Thank you for the support man… or woman? Meh. Don't care as long as you enjoy my mediocre writing and story telling abilities, lol.

I'm just going to remind you that this is an AU with a more realistic setting compared to the anime. Pokémon can easily kill humans and other pokemon with the power they have access to. Thankfully, most of them, while aggressive and territorial, won't attack humans unless provoked. I got into a bit more detail about that in this chapter, coincidentally, so pay attention to that when you read it.

 **zubhanwc3:** In regards of human companionship, Ash won't be travelling alone for too much longer.

I will try do a better job at showing rather than telling in order to make things more entertaining for you guys to read. I did my best to do that on this chapter and I hope I can improve on that.

 **L3onidas:** Thanks for pointing that out. I went and made the correction the moment I read your review.

* * *

 **Chapter Five: The Cerulean Blues**

* * *

"A clefairy allowed you to capture it!"

"Erm…" Ash had an unsure (and disturbed, others would also say) expression on his face as he looked at ecstatic and intense face of Professor Oak as he spoke to him by videocall through his X-Transceiver. Not too long after waking up the day after he exited Mt. Moon, his sponsor had called almost demanded to see the newest addition to his team. Despite knowing that Professor Oak had likely studied the cleffa evolutionary line in the past (the PokéDex possessing the amounts of information it did made him reach that conclusion), Ash new that it was still shocking for even Professor Oak to see a captured clefairy. The fact that the trainer was one of his newly sponsored ones probably didn't help matters. "… Professor Oak?"

At Ash's questioning look and words, Oak adopted a sheepish expression as he rubbed the back of his head, a juvenile motion that somehow didn't look out of place on the old professor. "Ah! My apologies, Ash. It seems like this old man is still capable of being surprised," he said before he looked over Ash's shoulder through his screen and gave the fairy pokemon, who was currently warming up alongside Ash's other pokemon in preparation for the morning training session, a look of wonder. "It's just that I never would have expected that any of my sponsored trainers would encounter a clefairy, much less capture one…"

Ash grinned as he nodded his head in agreement. "I was caught by surprise as well. I thought that she would only stick around for a bit until she got bored of me but when I asked her, she was more than happy to come along with me. I know I am extremely lucky."

Oak inclined his head in agreement after his eyes turned back to focus on Ash. "That might be true, but remember what is known about clefairy and their evolutions, Ash. They only appear before those pure and righteous of heart. The fact that she decided to come along with you and allowed you to capture her speaks extremely well of your character," reminded Oak as a pleased grin appeared on his face. It seemed like he was very proud of himself for his decision of sponsoring Ash as well.

Ash blushed in embarrasment. "Erm, Thanks, Professor Oak," he said simply. He never was one that knew how to take compliments well and he doubted that would ever change. After a moment, Ash got over his embarrasment and gave his sponsor a curious look. "Not that I would ever mid, but did you just call to ask me about Titania, that's her name by the way, Professor Oak? I thought that you would wait to read my biweekly report since it's due today. I was going to send it after morning training."

"Yes, well…" the old professor's expression sobered up as he locked eyes with Ash. "That would've been the case, indeed. However, it came to my attention that one of my newly sponsored trainers had quite the run in with a Team Rocket operation and played a key part in stopping them."

Ash grimaced a bit at his sponsor's tone. "Um, it wasn't really my fault, you know," he said weekly. Even though he had agreed to help Titania with the problem that was affecting the pokemon inside Mt. Moon, he didn't know Team Rocket had been involved until he saw them.

Oak sighed and rubbed his forehead with his thumb, index and middle finger. "I know, Ash. Everything was explained to me. I was just worried and angry that you had to go through that. Thankfully, it seemed like my and your mother's lessons on thinking first and the acting had taken root," he said with some relief before muttering to himself so low that Ash barely heard him. "Arceus knows what might have happened otherwise. First he is attacked by a beedrill swarm out of nowhere and now this?"

"Hehe," Ash just chuckled nervously in response. "So… does mom knows about it?"

Oak looked at him sharply before shaking his head once in the negative. "No. But I would recommend you call her after we are done talking and tell her. Otherwise I will. As your mother, she deserves to know everything that is going with you, the bad and the good."

"I don't want to worry her," muttered Ash as his mouth twisted at the thought of being the direct cause of his mother's distress.

Oak snorted but there wasn't much amusement on his face. "Ash, the only times Delia isn't worrying about you is when you talk to her every few days. Her part time work here and her restaurant can only distract her so much. Her only son is a pokemon trainer that just set out on his journey."

Ash winced as he immediately got what Oak was trying to say. "I'll tell her. Don't worry," he assured his sponsor. After thinking about it, Ash would determine that learning about it form his own mouth would be better if Professor Oak told her.

The old professor nodded his head sharply. "Good. I would also suggest you exchange short texts every day to let her at least know that you are okay. That would make her worry a significant less amount," he suggested and when Ash nodded his head resolutely, Oak shook his head slightly before giving him an inquiring look. "What are your plans going forward?"

Ash adopted a thoughtful expression at the question. "Well, I'm going to Cerulean City now. I want to battle the Waterflower Sisters for my second badge and see if I can take advantage of the northern bodies of water and get a water-type pokemon for the team. After that is either Vermillion City or Celadon City, but I will decide that after I do everything I plan to do while in Cerulean City."

"That's a sensible plan," said Oak in agreement before he continued. "I know that Gary has already beaten the Cerulean Gym and Leaf will be challenging it today. However, this is your chance to catch up to them traveling wise. There's going to be a Minor League Tournament at the Nugget Bridge north of Cerulean in ten days from now for E-Ranked and D-Ranked trainers that have acquired up to two or three badges. Gary and Leaf told me they would be participating."

Ash grinned in excitement when he registered his sponsor's words. "Then I will be participating as well. Cerulean is just four days away, including today, If I keep my normal pace. That should give me enough time to beat the Cerulean Gym and even train a bit for that tournament," said Ash, muttering the last part mostly to himself before looking back up and smirking at the Professor. "I think us three have long overdue battles, you know?"

"Hoho," chortled Oak, finding Ash's excitement and eagerness more amusing than anything else. "Do you think you can match up to them? I know it doesn't necessarily mean much this early on, but Leaf has five pokemon already and is close to reaching D-Rank. And Gary has already reached D-Rank after beating the Cerulean Gym as has finally settled for full team of six pokemon," he informed him with a grin.

Ash's own grin matched his own. "If you think that's going to discourage me, Professor, you have just achieved the contrary."

Professor Oak laughed. "I didn't expect less from you, Ash. Now, there's another thing…"

Ash and Professor Oak spoke for a few more minutes before ending the call. Since his report was ready, at Oak's request Ash sent it just after ending the call, having already edited and revised it yesterday before going to sleep in order to catch any mistake and to make sure that it had at least the same quality as the first one he sent.

Ash then turned towards his pokemon to see that the have already finished with their warmups and were already practicing the moves they already mastered by sparing with each other. He was not surprised to see that Igneel was battling Rexus while Zephya had paired up with Titania.

' _Igneel, Rexus and Zephya already have things they are working on during the mornings. As for Titania, the best would be to have her master the moves she knows after I see at what level she is with them. I'll have to battle with her a few times to see how she prefers to fight before I decide what moves to teach her going forward,'_ thought Ash as he watched his four pokemon fighting each other. He idly noticed how even while fighting Titania had a happy and beaming expression on her face. Only when she got hit by Zephya, who was obviously holding back quite a bit, would it become a slightly pained grimace before she shook it off and was back to what Ash was starting to see as her normal disposition.

Ash shook his head in fond amusement before sighing as he knew that before he could join them with his own physical training, he needed to call his mother and tell her what happened. He decided to not waste any time and dialed the number, using the time before she picked up to psych himself up as much as he could for the upcoming conversation. He had never liked seeing his mother upset for any reason, much less if he was the cause.

After a few moments, she picked up and his mother's happily beaming face appeared on the screen of his X-Transceiver. "Ashy! Good morning! What a wonderful surprise! I wasn't expecting you to call me until at least tomorrow! What's up?"

Ash smiled nervously as he looked at his mother, feeling his stomach knotting around itself at the thought that he would be causing her distress. "Um, hi mom," he greeted her before sighing tiredly when he noticed that she picked up on his current feelings, as she always did, and was giving him a concerned look. "Erm, so the reason I'm calling earlier is because something that happened yesterday when I was inside Mt. Moon…"

* * *

"Disarming voice."

His opponents' eyes lingered a bit on the fairy pokemon but he shook his head and they narrowed in concentration before giving his own command. "Don't let that hit you, Wooper! Use water gun!"

Titania gave a giggling sound before she opened her mouth wide as the small wings on her back glowed slightly with rainbow colored energy, which Ash knew was the fairy-type energy she converted by the moonlight she absorbed and stored within herself and during the night. Ash still didn't know how exactly the conversion happened since the PokéDex didn't go into too much detail only that it was a seemingly natural process. It was the reason why the cleffa evolutionary line belonged to the fairy-type as well.

Titania let out a charming cry as a bursting thin wave of rainbow-colored power was sent directly towards the water fish pokemon she was facing. The wooper gave a gurgling cry before hopping to the right to evade the attack that had been directly heading towards it before rearing its oval shaped head back and shooting a stream of pressurized water the size of half its head directly towards Titania.

Ash smiled. "Evade it. Keep using disarming voice."

With another giggle, Titania's wing glowed a bight brighter as she floated away from the path of the water gun before she unleashed another attack towards her opponent.

"Keep dodging and attacking back. Mix it up with mud bomb when you can!"

When the trainer he was facing gave that order, Ash knew that he would be winning this battle. He allowed his smile to widen a bit as he proceeded to see how things would develop further. Titania didn't need further input from him unless there was a sudden change of tactics but he doubted it would. She now only needed to be patient and wait for an opportunity.

The clefairy and the wooper proceeded to exchange attacks at long range while using their own methods of not getting hit. The wooper would use its short legs to jump away and its small body gave it the advantage of being a smaller target before shooting water guns with the occasional blast of mud from its mouth whenever it built up enough energy. Titania would simply float away and evade the attacks by a wide margin before unleashing her currently only fairy-type attack with surprising accuracy.

It hadn't taken Ash much to figure out how Titania preferred to fight. It turned out that like Igneel, she actually enjoyed fighting but with the key difference being that unlike his starter, she didn't enjoy it because of the thrill of battle or because she wanted to best all her opponents but because she simply thought it was fun. She was one of those pokemon that saw battling others as more than a game than anything else. Thankfully, she had the desire to be the best at the game she liked to play the most, and since that was battling, Ash felt that he could definitely work with that.

After reading more about his newest friend, Ash found out that clefairy had a lot of endurance even though her physical abilities, regarding dishing out physical attacks and defending herself from physical attacks, weren't that great. Thanks to her biology and her ability to store a significant amount of energy within their bodies, however, made Titania perfect for the role of a moving, long-ranged tank. While Ash would never ignore her weaknesses, Ash knew that early on the best was to focus on a pokemon's strength so they could cover those weaknesses before addressing them.

That was why he had her fighting like she was at the moment. In the past four days Titania showed that she was very well versed in using her stored energy to 'float' around and that she was particularly skilled in harnessing fairy-type energy. Because of that, Ash had decided it would be best to keep up building further up on that going forward regarding Titania's development.

After a few minutes of the same, in which it seemed like Titania could go on forever while his pokemon was starting showing signs of fatigue already, his opponent decided to change the pace. "Jump up, get in close and use slam!"

Ash smirked as instead of hopping to the side evade Titania's disarming voice, the wooper jumped up towards her in order to follow its trainer's instruction with a gurgling cry and its tail glowing a faintly white. "Magical leaf."

His opponents' eyes widened in alarm. "What?! No!"

Titania's expression was decidedly triumphant, but still innocent, as her wings glowed brightly this time with a light green because she was channeling grass-type energy. Not a second later, her glowing wings produced a dozen leaf-shaped energy constructs that went around her once before shooting directly towards the incoming wooper, who gurgled in panic as it couldn't change its position while in the air. The magical leaves impacted the wooper directly, a few missing but most of them hitting him all over and obscuring its form due to the small cloud of dark smoke each successfully connecting leaf created.

A moment later, the unconscious and clearly injured, though not severely, form of the wooper hit the ground with a dull thud. Not only had it been already tired after the long exchange of attacks when the battle began but since it was a water/ground-type, magical leaf, which was a grass-type move, made twice the damage. That had been enough to knock it out since most of the leaves had also hit directly as well.

Ash's opponents sagged in defeat, nodded at the black-haired trainer from pallet town and returned his defeated pokemon. As he turned to walk away after giving Titania another lingering look, Ash's X-Transceiver pinged with his winnings of the battle. He merely glanced at them to confirm what he already knew and instead focused on the happily hopping Titania as she waved at the back of his latest opponent as if she had just not crushed his pokemon. In a way, that was even scarier than Igneel's shows of dominance of superiority whenever he won a battle.

Ash approached her and smiled down at her as he affectionately rubbed her head. "That was wonderful, Titania," he said and the response of his newest teammate was to coo in pleasure at his ministrations as she beamed up at him happily. "I believe that you have finally mastered all the moves you knew when you decided to come with us. It's time we finally started adding new techniques to your repertoire, wouldn't you agree?" Titania's response was to squeal happily as she began to jump around and Ash had quickly learned that this was how she expressed her approval.

In the past four days he has participated in thirty pokemon battles, including the one that just finished, against other E-Ranked trainers and he had made sure that each and every one of those battles were at least two-on-two in order to make the most 'profit' out of every one of them. That meant that sixteen of those battles had been two-on-two, nine had been three-on-three and the five remaining had been four on four.

As was becoming the norm, Ash won all of those battles.

At E-Rank, each pokemon that participated in a battle was 'worth' twenty ranking points and four hundred credits. Despite one or two of his pokemon being defeated in most of his three-on-three and four-on-four battles respectively, Ash was glad that the only thing that mattered at the end was to defeat all of your opponents pokemon before your own were defeated in turn. That was why it was rare for trainers to have more than four-on-four battles outside of official League tournaments and gym battles.

In either case, let's just say that the past four days were incredibly rewarding in ranking and credit wise and he was sure that he would be reaching D-Rank with his Cerulean Gym battle and he no longer had to worry on whether or not he would have enough funds for supplies and buying TMs when he decided to do so.

As for the growth of the members of his team…

Igneel as always demonstrated why he was his starter and the unofficial second in command right after Ash himself. Igneel finally mastered the combination of Slash and Metal Claw. The new technique, which Ash decided to name Edgeclaw, improved upon the natural enhancement of the slash technique with the steel-type energy of metal claw, resulting in Igneel's claws becoming almost five time as long and ten times as sharp. He also finished learning and mastering the dark-type move crunch the day before yesterday.

Ash decided that the next thing Igneel would work on, after battling the Cerulean Gym, would be first essentially combining Fire Fang and Crunch since those techniques were quite complementary with each other. The end result of that plus Edgeclaw would give Igneel two solid techniques that he could use at close-range (and Ash knew that Edgeclaw could be improved upon even further, but at the moment it was enough as it was). In light of that and feeling like he should start paying more attention to the development of Igneel draconic energy, Ash decided that his starter would work on learning the move Dragon Breath.

Zephya finally became capable of using quick attack, tailwind and agility at the same time. Ash decided to call the technique Jet, since the speeds of those were what Zephya was capable of reaching if she built enough momentum. She also finished learning Air Slash to a satisfactory level and could use it effectively in a battle but she had yet to master the technique. Ash knew that she would reach that point before the Nugget Bridge Tournament though.

As for what she would be working on in the future, Ash had gotten an idea of a new combination technique employing the basic moves sand attack, gust and twister but he was still ironing out the details. He was still a week or two away from being comfortable enough to propose the idea to Zephya. Apart from that, he just wanted her to master Air Slash and to keep honing the ability she got to manipulate the air when she learned tailwind, which will come in handy for when she evolved into a pidgeot. And there was that particular TM that could be used to improve further upon Jet as well…

Rexus showed a lot of significant progress as well. He finally managed to achieve enhancing his body with the power of focus energy, double kick, fury attack and the close-ranged version of poison sting at the same time. Ash decided to call the combination technique CQC, short for Close-Quarters-Combat. After Rexus also managed to successfully combine Poison Jab with Horn Attack as well, which he decided to name Toxic Horn, Ash decided that he could switch between the enhancements for his horn depending on the pokemon they were facing.

Going forward, Ash felt that Rexus only needed to keep on learning moves to further enhance his CQC like body slam, stomp and headbutt to name a few. The stronger techniques would become available for him when he became a nidoking. Apart from that, Rexus only needed one or two techniques he could use at a distance. There were also a few other techniques regarding Rexus' poison typing that he could learn as well.

And finally, regarding Titania, Ash had only focused on learning how which was the best and most comfortable to fight with her, which he accomplished, and had her work on mastering the moves Disarming Voice and Magical Leaf, which she did, after deeming that she had already mastered her other moves.

Despite reading its description, Ash still wasn't sure on how Charm worked, only that it did. By using fairy-type energy, Titania was capable of making her opponents hesitate for a moment in attacking her. Sweet Kiss, another fairy type move, used those same energies to render the receiver, through direct contact, into a state of confusion, panic and sometimes even rage that more often than most resulted in them harming themselves. Sing allowed Titania to reach certain notes with her voice when she 'sung' that engaged the receptors of those to whom she was directing the technique to that allowwed one to fall asleep, forcing them to do so against their will. Wake-Up Slap was exactly that: a fighting type technique that force the opponent to awaken.

Ash already had some ideas to use those techniques as a 'failsafe' in case an opponent Titania was facing managed to get in close with her. For the moment, however, he was going to keep working on building up her potential as a long-range mobile tank. After some investigation and deliberation, Ash decided that the next moves Titania would learn would be Dazzling Gleam and Fairy Wind, the former to serve as an attack with high damage and pin point accuracy and the latter as an area of effect attack. After she learned those, he would look into giving her more variety in her techniques.

"Do you want be outside or would you like to go back to your ball?" He offered after he finished giving her the affection he felt she deserved for her latest win. Even though Igneel and Rexus were resting after today's battles, since he had used the two of them mostly today, he still had Zephya flying high above him and she was more than a good enough 'escort' in case the fairy pokemon wanted to go back to her pokeball.

Ash chuckled in amusement when Titania responded by just hoping away in the direction of Cerulean City after squealing happily. He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll take that as she wanting to stay out," he said before starting to walk after her. He was only a few hours away from Cerulean City. He might as well get there as soon as possible and get his pokemon checked so they could rest for real. He was going to challenge the Cerulean Gym tomorrow anyways.

* * *

"Here are your keys, Mr. Ketchum. We will call you over the intercom when we finish checking over your pokemon."

Ash took the cardkey from the Nurse Joy of the Cerulean City Pokémon Center and nodded gratefully at her. "Thanks," he said simply and when she nodded back at him with her own polite smile, he dipped his hat away and turned away from the counter and walked towards the lounging are of the center. While it was evening already, it wasn't so late that he had to go to his room to rest just yet and he knew that none of his pokemon had serious injuries, so he could wait.

In the last few hours of his trek to Cerulean, Ash had not battled anyone since he just wanted to reach the city as soon as possible in order to get his team back to full health and give them enough rest for the gym battle tomorrow. Following that same logic, he had returned Zephya and Titania back to their pokeballs when he felt like he could reach the city without being attacked by territorial wild pokemon. At the moment, he didn't need the attention a clefairy and a pidgeotto with king's nature would certainly bring.

Unfortunately, due to his haste and the fact that the Pokémon Center was close to the outer parts of it, he had been unable to fully appreciate the sights of what was easily the most beautiful major city in the Kanto region. He managed to catch a few glimpses of the elegant architectural style that was geared more towards beauty rather than functionality, but that was it. Still, he knew that he would be able to give the city the appreciating it needed when he made his way to the gym early tomorrow.

' _Hm, I thought there would be more people here since there's a tournament happening in less than a week,'_ thought Ash as he looked around the lobby. There were less than twenty trainers lounging around and Ash noticed that all of them were around his age, meaning that most of them likely just started their journeys at around the same time as him and were here for the tournament, and perhaps, battle the Waterflower sisters for their badge. Ash shrugged his shoulders after a moment. _'Maybe because it's a minor tournament not many are interested in it. Most of them are probably here to get the Cascade Badge early on.'_

Ash knew that despite not having the same fearsome reputation as Giovanni, Sabrina, Blaine and Koga, the Waterflower sisters were very formidable opponents that no one wanted to deal with at the very end of their gym circuit. While he was doing his research on them, as any trainer worth they salt would before seeking any kind of gym or tournament battle, he heard the horror stories about their Blastoise, Gyarados, Kingdra and Dewgong.

Honestly, if it wasn't because of his sense of practicality and now the fact that he needed one more badge to participate in the upcoming tournament, he would go directly to Celadon or Vermillion to challenge Erika or Lt. Surge respectively, who didn't have quite that reputation, Erika much less than Lt. Surge. Ash loved to challenge himself and his team and he felt like he was wasting an opportunity by challenging them this early.

That was the reason why he was going to leave the four gyms with the most fearsome reputations for after he earned his first four badges, since it was after that point that things began to get really serious when facing gym leaders. It was by that point that some newly started trainers even had fully evolved pokemon on their teams and some gym leaders, if deemed necessary, would use pokemon from their 'real teams' if not that entire team of pokemon outright, like Giovanni was known to do.

Thankfully, even at this stage, the Cerulean Gym was known to be a formidable challenge for new trainers. With the amount of training and battling he had done while on his way here, he felt pretty confident about his ability to rise up to the challenge.

"Ash?"

The black-haired trainer perked up at the sound of a very familiar voice calling his name and he turned towards the source only to blink in surprise. "Leaf?"

The brown-haired girl smiled teasingly at him as she walked closer. "I never thought you would ever catch up to me, slowpoke," she told him in a matching tone of voice the moment she stood in front of him. Ash could see that she was as pretty as ever and wore largely the same thing she did when they started their journey. The reason why he was surprised was because of the hoothoot that was resting on top of her right shoulder, it's seemingly only leg firmly gripping around it. Leaf was either used to it or the grip wasn't as uncomfortable as it looked.

' _So that's the fourth pokemon she got before getting to Pewter City,'_ he thought as his eyes momentarily flickered between her and the owl pokemon, who was staring at him without blinking, before shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, you know I like to take my time to do things right. Besides, it's not like we are in a hurry to complete the Gym Circuit, you know?" Le him, Leaf and Gary were going to be participating in the next Indigo Conference.

Leaf scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I know. You were the last to 'finish' the written portion of our PTLEs even though I'm pretty sure you answered all the questions in less than an hour. You just wanted to make sure you didn't make mistakes," she said, mocking him at the end by attempting to imitate his voice with a surprising amount of success. The two of them chuckled as Leaf took a seat next to him on the couch, the hoothoot not being bothered at all by her movements as it continued to stare at Ash. "So, what's up? You here for the badge or for the tournament?"

Ash shifted a bit to get more comfortable and to face towards her before answering. "Both, actually. I'm going to challenge the gym tomorrow and train for a bit to prepare for the tournament."

Leaf smirked a bit at him. "Hm, is that so? I guess we will end up battling each other at some point then since I'm also going to be participating," she told him before rolling her eyes as her mouth twisted a bit in distaste. "And I know Gary is participating as well. Ugh, that prick. I can't wait to wipe that smug expression off his face. Just because he's got a full team already and beat the gym first…" she muttered the last part to herself but Ash still managed to catch.

He already knew that so he wasn't surprised by it. Ash raised an eyebrow at her, unused to seeing her this worked up about him. She was usually the one that kept a level-head whenever Gary was involved. "I take it that he is even more of an ass now," he commented dryly.

"Yup," she frowned with annoyance. "He's barely just a day ahead of me and he thinks that it makes him a batter trainer than me. He's even staying at one of those super expensive luxury hotels because he doesn't want to mix up with the 'normies'," she said, making quotation marks at the end. That was when Ash noticed that she had a white and pink X-Transceiver of her own. Perhaps her parents gave her one as well?

Ash snorted. "That sounds like him, alright."

Leaf gave an annoyed groan as she crossed her arms. "I can't wait to show him what's what when we face each other in the tournament," she declared and the hoothoot hooted once before blinking slowly. It seemed like that was its way of showing its approval and support.

"That is if I don't face him first and kick him out of the competition before you even get to him," pointed out Ash teasingly as he smirked at her.

Leaf's mood seemed to improve a bit at his words and her expression matched his momentarily before she shook her head a bit and looked at him inquiringly. "Anyways… what pokemon do you have? I already know about Gary's team because he couldn't help bragging about them when we ran into each other a few days ago. I've got an ivysaur, which you knew about and he evolved just before I battled Brock, a mankey, a spinarak, a psyduck and Owly here," she told him proudly as she reached to scratch the hoothoot's chest, which resulted in it giving a soft hoot in response.

Seeing that she didn't mind him knowing the pokemon she on her team, Ash decided that he could extend her the same courtesy. "I've got a charmeleon, charmander evolved just before I got out of the Viridian Forest by the way, a pidgeotto, a nidorino and…" he trailed off as he lowered his voice and leaned forward. "… a clefairy."

Leaf's eyes widened at the end but she seemed to immediately catch on to his desire of discreetness. "What?! How?!" She almost demanded in a hissed whisper.

Ash leaned back and shrugged his shoulders. "I was in Mt. Moon when she literally poked my face awake. After playing around for a bit…" Ash was definitely not going to tell Leaf about his encounter with Team Rocket. Brock had insisted on him not divulging what happened. The only one he told was his mother. "… I just asked her if she wanted to become a part of my team. She said yes."

Leaf clicked her tongue and gave him a mock envious look. "I'm so jealous right now."

Idly recalling with amusement that Brock had said the exact same thing, Ash just chuckled before looking at her curiously. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Well…" Leaf trailed off as she smiled at him. The hoothoot, whose name was Owly apparently, continued to look at Ash without blinking, making him a bit uncomfortable, but he managed to somewhat ignore it by focusing on Leaf's words as she began to regal him with the most interesting aspects of her journey so far.

The two friends continued talking and catching up, even moving to the cafeteria when they became hungry, until Ash was called over the intercom so he could retrieve his pokemon. After promising to meet each other for lunch the next day, they bid each other goodbye for now. Ash then went to the counter, thanked Nurse Joy once again for tending to his team after she told him that they were only a bit tired, which meant that they would be at one hundred percent for tomorrow's battle, and went to his room.

There, he released the four members of his team and went over some last-minute details in other to prepare for any eventuality that might come his way tomorrow. Igneel was a bit peeved about not fighting tomorrow but he understood why and the necessity to give his other teammates the chance to prove their worth. The fact that Ash told him about the tournament that was coming shortly after was another factor that resulted in Igneel not complaining too much about it as well.

After making sure his team knew most of what they could expect tomorrow and reminding them how important it was for them to rest as much as they needed tonight, Ash provided them with their evening meal before climbing onto his bed in order to investigate more about clefairy and make some notes on further development plans for his team. He also worked a bit on his next report for Professor Oak. By the time he was finished and ready to fall asleep, his pokemon had already ingested their food and fallen asleep.

* * *

Truthfully, the word 'beautiful' didn't do Cerulean City justice. Ash doubted he was aware of a word that could.

As he made his way towards the center of the city, where the Cerulean Gym was located, Ash couldn't help the almost gawking expression that was plastered on his face. Sure, he had seen pa few pictures before, especially while using the PokéNet during his research on the Waterflower sisters, but that was one thing and a completely different one to see it in person and up close.

With none of the buildings he had seen so far possessing hard edges and rigid, squared structures, Ash couldn't help but think that Cerulean City was the complete opposite of Pewter City. While the city in which he got his first badge represented sturdiness with its architecture, Cerulean City's represented fluidity. Ash didn't doubt this wasn't a coincidence considering what type of pokemon the gym of each city specialized in.

The colors that dominated the city landscape were white, silver and seemingly all the shades of blue there existed. The exception being, of course the Pokémon Centers located near the four entrances of the city and a few other buildings here and there that had bright colors that mixed in extremely well with the main color scheme of everything else.

However, the most prominent feature of Cerulean City was the fact that two rivers of considerable size went directly through it. Those two rivers, called the Northern Twins, originated from the northern mountains and following a path south until they combined into a single one, called North Blue, not too far off south of Cerulean which would then go on for hundreds miles until it lead its waters into the Vermillion Gulf.

Ash had to cross the western most of the Northern Twins in order to reach the Cerulean City Gym. When he did so, he marveled at the fact that a river that had a at least fifty meters from one side to the other went through a city such as Cerulean unimpeded. Not only that, but its waters were so clear and clean that Ash could easily spot the many, many water types that made it their habitat.

' _And the other one is supposed to be wider. I'll have to check it out and send mom some pictures after I defeat the gym,'_ thought Ash as he noticed how many people, clearly tourists from other cities of Kanto or even Regions, he didn't pay enough attention to tell, would take 'selfies' from different angles to show both the beauty of the bridge they were standing on and the waters that it crossed.

After a moment, Ash shook his head and continued walking towards his destination, which only took him a few more minutes to reach after he left the premises of the Northern Twin of the west.

The Cerulean Gym was building made of concrete, steel and glass that was noticeably larger than the one in Pewter City. Its roof was pyramidal in shape, seemingly double layered and it was made up of dark blue glass and light silver steel that simulated windows. The base of the structure was made up of concrete, painted mostly white but with a few accents in light yellow, pink and purple here and there.

The entire structure was surrounded by a small moat, that didn't have a clear purpose, and one had to cross a short bridge to reach the steps that lead to the doors, and automatic set that had the symbol of the League above them.

Ash stepped inside and he wasn't surprised that it was a lobby/waiting area. It was definitely comfier looking and more stylish than Brock's gym that was for sure. He noticed that he was the only one there for the moment, which meant that there was either someone already battling inside or he was the first one to arrive. As long as he got to battle today, Ash didn't really care.

He walked towards the counter and blushed a bit when he noticed the pretty older teenage girl that sat there. She was wearing beach clothes that… called to attention the fact that she was very well developed. The knowing smile she gave him when she noticed his blush and nervousness didn't help matters at all.

"Good morning," she greeted him politely but with a clear undertone of amusement and teasing that had Ash blushing even more. She giggled. "How may I help you?"

"Erm, um," Ash stammered for a bit before shaking his head and clearing his throat in order to get his wits back. "Good morning. I'm here for a battle," he said, not thrusting himself to speak more words without the risk of making a fool of himself.

The pretty receptionist nodded, her lips twitching upwards. "Ah, I see. You are here earlier than most but Daisy, Lily and Violet have already finished with their morning rehearsals for the show this evening," she said before elegantly raising an eyebrow at him. "ID?"

"AK019910104."

She quickly tapped into the keyboard of her computer with the ease of log practice before smiling up at him. "Alright, Ash Ketchum, you are set for your second gym battle. Just walk through those doors. Daisy, Lily and Violet will be expecting you," she said, motioning towards the biggest set of doors that were opposite to the doors that he used to enter, before winking at him. "And good luck!"

Ash could only advert his gaze and walk away after nodding at her in thanks, her amused giggles reaching his ears.

Ash managed to overcome his embarrasment during the walk through the short hallway that lead into another set of doors. They opened up for him and Ash blinked in surprise at the sight that greeted him. A massive pool with the dimensions of an official pokemon battle field and it was so deep that Ash couldn't even see the bottom due to how dark it got at some point. There were also many circular and square shaped platforms floating on the surface of the water. At each end of the pool there were stairs that led towards platforms that had the same metallic pillar that the trainer boxes had back at the Pewter Gym.

Surrounding the pool were rising stands that reached almost up to where the ceiling started and Ash saw that inside matched the shape of the outside, having pyramidal shape and he could see the clouds and sky through the glass.

"Ash Ketchum, right?"

Ash turned away from admiring how majestic the interior of the Cerulean Gym looked and turned towards the voice only for his embarrasment to come back with a vengeance as a red blush colored his face. If the receptionist had been pretty, the four girls that stood in front of him were simply beautiful.

The first one he looked at had long wavy blonde hair and green eyes, the second one had long, straight blue hair and brown eyes, the third one had long, curly red heir and the fourth one, who was visibly younger, had short, orange hair and green eyes. Ash could tell that the four of them were clearly related because their attractive facial features were very similar with only a few, small differences here and there.

The reason why Ash became so embarrassed was because the four of them were wearing two-piece bikinis that accentuated their curves and athletic bodies. Eve the youngest one, the one with orange hair, despite being around his age already showed the start of a figure that would match the one possessed by the older ones.

"Um, yeah. That's me," he said after a moment. _'These are the Waterflower sisters, alright. Man, their official pictures don't do them justice at all,'_ thought Ash he looked at them. He identified the blonde one as Daisy Waterflower, the oldest, the bluenette as Violet Waterflower, the oldest after Daisy, the redhead as Lily Waterflower, the third oldest and the one with orange hair as Misty Waterflower, the youngest one.

When Misty blushed a bit as she looked at him, Violet and Lily began to giggle and Daisy smiled knowingly, Ash had no doubt that they knew what was going through his mind. They didn't seem to mind much, however. Whether that was because they were used to get this kind of reaction from members of the opposite sex or because they just found it amusing, Ash would never know.

"I see that you are here for second badge and that you have a barely more than a month as a trainer. Misty here is training to become Gym Leader just like us," she said, motioning first towards the youngest, who waved at him with a smile which he returned, before motioning towards herself and then Violet and Lily. "She is currently at a level we know she can give you a proper challenge so, for your gym challenge, you will be facing her."

Even though he was a bit disappointed at not battling any of the actual Gym Leaders, Ash knew that if they were vouching for her and claimed that she could determine whether he was ready or not for the Cascade Badge at his level it was because Misty was capable of that and likely more. So Ash simply nodded his head as he began to get over his embarrasment. "I don't have a problem with that."

"Perfect!" Exclaimed Daisy before motioning towards the nearest platform. "Go stand over there. My sisters and I will oversee the match," she said before turning towards her youngest sister. "You already saw us facing some challengers that were on his level. You know what to do."

Misty nodded with a determined expression on her face. "Yes!" She declared before turning towards Ash with a determined grin. "Don't think that you can underestimate me or that this will be easier just because I'm not my sisters!"

Ash grinned right back at her and if he would have looked in the mirror if he would have been startled at how similar the expression looked to Igneel's. "Wasn't planning on it!"

As the three older Waterflower sisters giggled in amusement at the byplay between the two, everyone moved to their respective positions. Ash and Misty stood on their platforms at opposite sides of the pool while Daisy, Violet and Lily stood at another platform at Ash's right and Misty's left.

"The rules for the battle are these: two-on-two, no substitutions and no items allowed. You lose if your two pokemon are knocked out. Ash," said Daisy before turning towards him when she said his name. He noticed that she had a device similar to Brock's strapped to her wrist and that was also connected to a metallic pillar next to her. Lily and Violet were merrily chatting as they stood leaning against the railing of the platform at her side. The blonde was smiling brightly at him. "I trust that you already know that this battle is being recorded and that if you lose, you'll only be able to challenge us again after twenty-four hours, right?"

Ash simply nodded his head in the affirmative as his face twisted into a blank mask of focus. His mother and Leaf told him that this was his 'focusing' face and that he had subconsciously copied from Professor Oak due to how much time he spent around his sponsor in the past. He was going to give this battle his best, as he always did.

Daisy grinned as she flourished elegantly with her arm towards the pool. "Okay! Begin!"

"Misty choses Poliwhirl!" The orangette declared as she threw her pokeball up and in a bright flash of white released into one of the circular platforms close to her a blue, bipedal pokémon with a spherical body. It had bulbous eyes that protruded from the top of its head. A black and white swirl covered its belly, which Ash knew were actually its organs showing through its thin skin. It appeared to have white gloves on its hands and rounded, digit-less feet.

It made a wet, gurgling sound as it blinked and gave two short jumps from side to side.

Without a word, Ash lobbed up his own pokeball and released Titania into one of the square platforms beneath him. As she giggled and waved merrily at her opponents and their audience, Ash's mouth twitched upwards at the gasps of shock and delight that left the moths of the four Waterflower sisters as they looked at the fairy pokemon with wide eyes.

Even though he had been planning on starting with Titania since yesterday, Ash felt the strange urge of showing off as much as he could for some reason. Oh well…

Unsurprisingly, since she was the one battling, Misty was the one who recovered first. "Poliwhirl! Use bubble spread!"

With a gurgle of confirmation, the tadpole pokemon reared its body back before it began to produce hundreds of bubbles that shot towards the opposite end of the field where Titania was located. Despite their transparent appearance, those bubbles looked solid enough that Ash knew they would hurt if they hit.

Ash immediately knew the purpose of the bubble beam variant. It was to force to opponent to counter since dodging would only put it in the path of other bubbles, making that a moot point. He decided to allow Misty to dictate the flow of the battle for now to see what she was planning. "Disarming voice. Don't let your guard down," commanded Ash, rising his voice a bit since she didn't have overdeveloped hearing like Zephya or Rexus.

Titania giggled as her wings glowed with fairy-type energy before she shot the thin wave of rainbow-colored energy towards the bubbles that coming towards her. They connected and a multi-colored explosion, which was quite beautiful to look at, resulted from the collision, it's strength enough to send ripples through the waters of the pool which in turn made the platforms shake.

Ash, however, wasn't paying attention to that. "Jump to another platform!"

Titania obliged, her wings glowing a bit brighter as she floated away to a swaying platform to the left. Not a moment later Misty's poliwhirl shout out of the water, its entire body glowing faintly, and passed through where Titania had been at speeds that almost made it look like a blue and white blur and disappeared back into the pool just as she landed on the other platform. The poliwhirl then peaked its eyes for a moment to see where Titania was before submerging itself once again.

Ash clicked his tongue. "Titania! Keep moving!" Ash commanded and with another giggle Titania jumped away to evade another body slam from the tadpole pokemon. A moment later the scene repeated itself a third time.

He knew that Titania had enough stored moonlight and mastery of her ability to 'fly' to keep up this sudden game of cat and mouse for a decent amount of time but Ash didn't want her to waste her stamina in doing so. And even though she could afford to get hit, what with her endurance, the momentum poliwhirl built with the speeds it could reach while in water increased the power of its body slam by a significant margin, enough that the hit Titania could afford to get might decide the overall outcome of this match.

Titania couldn't counter directly when poliwhirl was in the air because one, it moved too fast for it to be effective, and two, she couldn't predict where it would be coming from since the tadpole pokemon camouflaged itself perfectly with the water.

Ash wasn't out of options though. But it seemed like he was forced to go for an unorthodox method. That, if anything, proved the words of the eldest Waterflower sister on whether or not Misty was capable of giving him a challenge.

As Titania jumped to evade the poliwhirl for the sixth time in a row, Ash grinned. "Into the water and sing!"

Misty's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?!"

Titania giggled as she used her mastery over her powers to change directions in mid air and with a delighted shriek, she dove into the water just after Misty's poliwhirl did so itself. A moment later Ash could barely hear the muffled sounds of Titania's sing. Because water particles were closer together than air particles, sound traveled faster through water than it did through air. In this case, that meant that Titania would have enough time to use Sing effectively inside they water despite the poliwhirl being easily four times faster than her while inside the water.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the clearly asleep poliwhirl emerged from the depths of the pool and began to float on the surface of the water belly up.

"No! Poliwhirl! Wake up!" Shouted Misty, her expression a mix of disbelief and worry.

Ash smirked when Titania emerged from the water using her ability to 'fly'. "Magical leaf," he said simply.

Titania landed on a platform a few dozen yards away of the floating and sleeping tadpole pokemon, shook herself for a moment to get off the excess water from her fur and turned towards her opponent with a happy expression on her face. Her wings glowed a light green before a dozen constructs of grass-type energy in the shape of leaves shot towards the poliwhirl. Since her target was mostly immobile, Titania's aim was true and the poliwhirl's form was obscured by the cloud of smoke produced by the small explosions that resulted from Titania's attack connecting perfectly.

It only took a few seconds for the smoke to clear out and Ash was impressed to see that even though it was clearly very injured, the poliwhirl, no awake, looked ready to keep fighting even it was clearly in pain. He wasn't surprised when Misty returned it back in a flash of red.

"Even though he could keep fighting, the outcome was clearly in your clefairy's favor. There's no need for him to keep getting hurt so I forfeit him," said Misty, turning towards Daisy who nodded at her with an approving expression on her face. Misty seemed to flush a bit with bride before she turned towards Ash and nodded at him with respect. "Your clefairy is strong. I didn't expect her to know sing," she commented as she put away her pokeball.

"She was already strong when she decided to come with me while I was inside Mt. Moon," explained Ash as he looked at Titania fondly. The fairy pokemon heard his words and turned towards him with a beaming expression of happiness and waved. He laughed and waved back at her, much to her visible delight. "I just helped her master what she already knew. That's why I decided to let her battle here today."

Misty gave him a pretty smile. "Hm, I can see why she chose you," she said and Ash blushed a bit at the unintended compliment. Misty's smile then morphed into a grin as she brandished another pokeball. "This one, however, will not be nearly as easy! Misty calls Starmie!" She declared as she threw her pokeball high into the air.

Ash watched as the generic capture device opened up and released a flash of white energy that began to coalesce into a floating shape. Starmie was a violet sea star-like pokémon with a gold formation on its front. Its jewel core, which was currently glowing with seven colors from what Ash could see, resembled a cut precious stone. There was second set of semi-attached arms on its back, which are able to spin three hundred and sixty degrees.

Ash frowned up at it. _'This is going to be difficult,'_ he thought as he decided to let Titania continue fighting. Even though she had spent a good amount of moonlight in her fight with Misty's poliwhirl she had not taken any damage so in the case she couldn't pull off a victory, she could at least tire the starmie enough to make the fight easier for his next pokemon.

When Misty noticed that he was not going to change pokemon, she gave her orders. "Water pulse! Keep it up!"

Ash's eyes widened as with a weird, rumbling sound that sounded like a squeal muffled by water, the starmie formed a sphere of water and water-type energy as big as it was right in front of it. "Counter with magical leaf!" He exclaimed just as the starmie released the water pulse directly towards Titania at speeds that faster than what poliwhirl had been moving.

Titania didn't sport a happy expression as she quickly sent a dozen energy leaves towards the incoming water pulse and the collision resulted in an explosion of smoke, light green energy, blue energy and water. Titania squeaked in fright as she jumped away as another water pulse went through the cloud of smoke, dispersing it, and she managed to barely fly away as the platform she had been standing on exploded in a shower of water and debris.

When she landed on a nearby platform, Titania had an uncharacteristic serious expression as she looked up at the starmie, who was already forming another water pulse. Without making a sound, Titania's wings began to glow a light grin.

Ash frowned as he watched the match develop against Titania even though it looked like it was a stalemate. Every time Titania could use magical leaf to counter a water pulse, starmie had already sent another one before Titania could prepare the technique she needed to counter and forced her to 'fly' away to another platform to evade being hit by the explosive radius of the water pulse and the debris created by the destroyed platform she had been standing on.

Ash eventually realized what was happening and one look at Misty's mischievous expression confirmed it. _'How devious,'_ he thought with a snort as he watched the last platform being destroyed. With nowhere else to land, Titania was forced to focus her powers into staying a float in the air. The fairy pokemon was panting with exhaustion due to how she was forced to use her abilities to counter and evade the starmie's relentless attacks.

Ash winced when Titania couldn't move away fast enough to evade a water pulse that exploded against her and send her flying back until she landed roughly outside of the pool. He sighed as she struggled to get back up, despite her clear injuries, and he returned her in a flash of red light. He smiled fondly at the pokeball. "You did an excellent job. I'm proud of you," he whispered to the pokeball before shrinking it and attaching it the magnet where it belonged on his belt.

"I think we both know how the match would have ended if I let Titania continue fighting," commented Ash as he looked at Misty, who looked quite smug as her starmie floated in the air right in front of her, with critical eyes. _'She might not look like it but she clearly has an air for tactics and strategies. Combine that with her obvious vindictive streak, since she essentially did to Titania what she did to her poliwhirl, and it makes for a scary combination,'_ he thought with a significant amount of respect.

By destroying the platforms Misty had given her starmie quite the advantage, since it could clearly keep itself afloat in their using its psychic powers without issues or it could fall back into the water and fight from there with even more ease. If Ash's only option had been a pokemon that had to be on the ground to fight, like Igneel or Rexus, he would have been in serious trouble.

In a bright flash of white and with a powerful caw, Zephya appeared flying right in front of Ash. Once again, the four Waterflower sisters were shocked by one of his pokemon, this time by the sheer size of a pidgeotto that was clearly no where near close to evolution due to her characteristics.

"King's Nature…" Ash managed to hear Daisy mutter from where she and two of her sisters stood. A glance told him that the three of them were looking at Zephya in wonder. Misty was also looking at his avian friend with wonder but there was some trepidation in her gaze as well.

With a snort of amusement, Ash could tell by the way her head was inclined as she beat her powerful wings almost lazily to keep herself in the air that Zephya was looking down on both Misty and Starmie while at the same time preening as she noticed the gazes she was getting. That was so her.

After a moment of silence, during which Ash noticed a sudden shimmer in front of him that he decided to ignore, he decided to start the fight anew. "Air slash."

Misty blinked in shock when Zephya quickly twirled around and used the motion to lash out towards Starmie with a suddenly glowing wing and a blade of transparent white flying-type energy was sent towards the star-fish pokemon with deadly accuracy and speed. "Light screen!"

Starmie's second set of arms began to spin as her jewel core began to glow a bright blue. A moment before the blade of air reached her a rectangular construct of bright blue light appeared in front of it. The air slash collided with the light screen and there was an explosion of dispersed air as the light screen visibly cracked. Ash knew that had Zephya truly mastered the technique before the battle the light screen would have been completely destroyed.

"Air slash again. Force it to move around. Prepare to use Jet," said Ash in a low tone of voice that he knew only the bird pokemon would hear.

With a powerful caw that reverberated through the entire room, Zephya sent another blade of air towards the starmie before moving to another position to launch another air slash from a different angle.

Misty clenched her jaw muscles as she saw this. "Get in the water and bend it to shoot it out of the sky!"

Starmie's jewel core stopped glowing as it dropped the light screen and it fell towards the water like death weight, evading the air slashes in the process. Ash blinked in surprise when they exploded against an invisible barrier that shimmered into existence the moment the attacks collided with it. It seemed like while the first battles didn't merit the use of psychic barriers to protect the trainers from errant attacks, this one most certainly did in the eyes of Daisy. He recalled the sudden shimmer before he started the match. _'So that's what it was about.'_

Ash frowned as he watched the waters of the pool start to behave strangely. At seemingly random points the surface of the water looked as if it was being disturbed by something that was just beneath it and was about to emerge. He was rightfully shoved when suddenly, what he could only call whips of water that were as thick as his torso and rose up towards Zephya at incredible speeds.

With an almost contemptuous and mocking caw, Zephya began to dodge the attack of the water whips with ease. Ash noticed, however, that she was forced to enhance herself with agility in order to evade those attacks with that amount of ease. That was saying something considering what Zephya was capable off in regards of speed.

Confident that she could keep up the evasion manouvers, Ash turned towards the pool and found the distinct form of Misty's starmie quite easily. Unlike her poliwhirl, starmie's violet color made it impossible for it use the water to hide itself. Not only that, but it also clearly had to stay close to the surface in order to see Zephya and thus effectively use its water whips to strike at her.

' _It's staying still,'_ noted Ash mentally, recalling when its back arms spun around when it used light screen to protect itself from air slash. That gave Ash a fairly good idea on how to stop its current assault. "It has to stay still to bend the water. Get away with jet and use twister towards it," instructed Ash calmly.

Zephya chirped her understanding as she twisted away from a whip that came from her right side only to do a barrel-roll to evade two that came at her back and front at the same time, flying across the length of the one that came from her front. Then, when the fourth one was about hit her on the back, she seemingly blurred out of existence.

"Huh?" That was the sound Misty made when she saw the massive pidgeotto disappear from her perspective. She knew, however, that it wasn't the case. She had not expected the bird to be as fast as it was due to its sheer bulk. The fact that it could evade her starmie's water bending with apparent ease was annoying. And even more annoying was that she couldn't hear Ash's commands in order to come up with the most effective ones. She was forced to guess and that was the worst thing that could happen when you were playing defensively.

She heard a caw from the right corner of her side of the pool and her eyes widened when she turned to see the pidgeotto with King's Nature flying just a few feet above the water generating a funnel of winds tinted with greenish draconic energy, which recognized as twister, the size of its wing span before cawing again as it directed the attack directly towards her starmie. The advancing vortex of winds was half in and half out of the water as it partially parted them on its way to its target.

"No!" Misty watched helplessly as the twister reached her starter pokemon before it couldn't do more than release its focus on water bending, the whips collapsing back into the water, before it was caught by the attack. She winced when she heard its cry of pain at being hit and she gasped in shock when the twister suddenly inclined itself upwards, acquiring a new trajectory. Misty looked on as her starmie was launched directly towards the psychic barriers.

She turned towards Ash and was further surprised when she saw that he was also not expecting that last bit.

' _Since when can she control the direction of her twister?'_ He thought to himself in surprise as he watched the psychic barriers flare into existence the moment the starmie crashed into them. Ash gave a mental shrug and made a mental note to ask her about it later. They still had to win. "Jet wing from below. Don't let it get back in the water. Finish it with air slash."

With a triumphant caw, Zephya blurred into movement, the tips of her wings making the troubled waters behind her rise up due to the speed she was moving at so close to the surface, and in a blink of an eye she reached the point where she was beneath the slowly recovering form of starmie. Without losing her momentum she changed directions and water was kicked outwards as she rose towards the falling starmie, her wings flowing bright.

With a sound that resembled wood smacking against metal, Zephya struck the starmie right across her jewel core making it give a cry of agony as it was sent flying towards the ceiling. Zephya then released her Jet technique and she used her keen eyes to see that the starmie was still conscious even though her jewel core was lightly cracked so she sent an air slash towards its still climbing form.

Ash blinked once when the starmie disappeared in a flash of red before the air slash hit it and blinked again when the blade of air smacked against the psychic barrier that protected the ceiling as well, making them flare momentarily into existence. _'Hm? So, they reach all the way up there? Makes sense,'_ he thought, recalling that after reaching a certain level pokemon battles were quite destructive.

"Misty has forfeited her two pokemon! Ash Ketchum is the winner!" Declared Daisy with a bright smile on her face as she flourished elegantly towards Ash.

Lily was almost bouncing on the sole of her feet as she looked between Ash and her sister repeatedly with a massive grin on her face. "That was, like, a super tense battle! Poliwhirl and Starmie were magnificent like always! And, like, your clefairy was super cute and elegant and your pidgeotto kept me on the edge thorough out it all!"

Violet clapped lightly as she smiled in a more subdued manner. "That was a very well fought battle. You both showed the ability to adapt to different situations and that you are in sync with your pokemon. I didn't expect less from Misty but it surprised me coming from Ash as well, considering his time as a trainer and all that."

Ash noted how Misty flushed at her the words from her sisters. It seemed like she put a lot of value on their words. _'I mean, not only are the three of them her older sisters but they are also her teachers. It's obvious she holds them in high steam,'_ thought Ash, momentarily ignoring the double dings coming from his X-Transceiver, as he watched the psychic barrier flare out of existence allowing Zephya to fly towards him. He grinned up at her when she perched herself on the railing of the platform and adopted a self-satisfied air around her.

Ash stroked her chest feathers getting a coo of pleasure. "You were great out there, girl. Titania certainly performed beyond what I expected but I couldn't have won without you," he said and that was the truth. Neither Rexus nor Igneel would have been able to fight after the number Misty's starmie did on the platforms. And beyond that, Igneel had a disadvantage here that he was still uncapable of overcoming.

The look Zephya gave him surely translated to 'Were you expecting anything else, silly human?'

Ash chuckled.

After showring with a bit more of affection and compliments, which Zephya accepted with an elegant air that only she could pull off amongst the members of his team, Ash returned her back to her pokeball. He turned around and that was when he noticed that the metallic pillar that was on his platform had opened up. He saw that there was the Cascade Badge resting on top of a dark blue colored disk labeled TM55.

"That's the physical evidence of your victory today, Ash. You have showed that you more than deserve it," said Daisy and Ash noticed that the four sisters were looking up at him from where they stood at the foot of the stairs of his platform. When he smiled and nodded at her in appreciation as he picked up the two objects, she continued speaking. "And that is a one-use-only technical machine for the move Scald. You better use it wisely."

Ash raised an eyebrow as he walked down the steps. "Scald? What does that do?"

"It's like a stronger version of water gun that uses scalding water, hence its name, that is capable of burning the target," explained Misty as she stepped towards him and extended her hand for a handshake with a smile on her face. "That was one of the best matches I've ever had. I hope we can do that again when we are both stronger."

Ash took her hand in his and shook it firmly as he nodded. "Of course. Though I was hoping to face your sisters in the future," he admitted.

Lily blinked as she tilted her head. "Like, haven't you heard about my Dewgong? There are even some horror stories about my dear baby!"

Violet raised an eyebrow at him. "Or my Blastoise?"

Daisy smiled prettily at him as she batted her eyelashes innocently. "What about my Kingdra and Gyarados?"

Ash smirked at them. "Yeah. I have. Those stories are the reason why I want to face you when I feel like I'm ready for it," he said confidently. After winning such an exciting match he was high on adrenaline and other substances that made it easy to ignore the fact that he was supposed to be embarrassed at being surrounded by four beautiful girls not too much older than him wearing skimpy bikinis.

Daisy exchanged looks with her sisters, with Misty even blushing and looking away, before she giggled and looked at him with a glint in her eye. "Hm, bold and confident… that's how I like them," she said mostly to herself and her sisters, Violet and Lily nodding alongside here in agreement. Going by her reddened ears, Misty was not in disagreement.

Ash still heard her and he began to stammer as those words cut through his high induced confidence like a hot knife through butter. "Erm, um, I, hehe, but…"

Daisy gave him a smirk that was equal part a challenge as it was something else that he couldn't quite identify but suddenly had him feeling hot all over. "Tell you what, Ash. If you can beat our strongest pokemon before the next Indigo League, the four of us will make it worth your while," she said, Violet and Lily sporting similar smirks as they nodded in agreement. Misty refused to look at him but Ash could see that her blush went all the way down.

Ash's eyes widened as his entire face became red. "Wha-what do-does that me-mean?"

Daisy winked mischievously at him. "Become strong enough and find out," she said before she sobered up and looked at him speculatively with a serious air about her. "I do have a question though, Ash. Do you have a water-type in your team?"

The eyes of her younger three sisters turned towards Daisy at her sudden question, Misty's full body blush slowly receding after her embarrasment was suddenly replaced by what looked like shock. It was Violet who spoke for seemingly the three of them. "Are you perhaps going to…" she trailed off as Daisy nodded her head once in the affirmative. She turned towards Ash and examined him with an expression similar to that of her older sister's before giving her own nod. "Hm, I don't see why not."

Lily also had an uncharacteristic serious expression on her face as well as she looked at Ash up and down. "And he, like, has a clefairy, you know? That on itself vouch for his character."

Misty's shoulders sagged in what looked like defeat as her expression was a despondent and annoyed one. "That little critter never liked me anyways. Go ahead. I don't have any complains."

Ash raised an eyebrow at the sudden byplay before focusing on Daisy and shaking his head. "No. I was planning on going north of Cerulean in order to look for one this afternoon. Why?"

"Well…" began to say Daisy as she put her palm against her cheek and adopted a 'distressed' expression. "The son of two of our pokemon from our main teams hatched from its egg a few months ago and none of us have been able to bond with it. Not only that but we can tell that it doesn't like to be cupped up in the gym. We were going to send it to Professor Elm in Johto if things continued like that but I think a better option would be to give it to you. Would you like to have it?"

The offspring of two pokemon trained by two of the strongest gym leaders in Kanto? Ash didn't even have to think about it. His eyes shone as he nodded his head. "Of course, I would!" He declared.

Misty's lips twitched upwards as her three older sisters giggled at him. "For some reason, I'm not surprised that you accepted so easily," she said dryly.

Still expressing her amusement, Daisy walked up the stairs towards the platform, putting a bit more sway to her hips since she knew that Ash's eyes would be on her bikini clad derriere and she wanted to continue teasing him because his reactions were funny and cute, and connected her LICT (League Issued Control Tablet) to the metallic pillar from which Ash's newest badge and TM had emerged. After quickly tapping the screen, it opened up again and revealed a plain pokeball that she promptly grabbed.

After closing the pillar and disconnecting her LICT, Daisy walked back down and presented Ash the pokeball. "Here. He's a little rough around the edges like most of his species but I'm sure that you can help him reach his full potential."

Ash took the pokeball from her almost reverently and he stared at it without blinking. It was cool to the touch and slightly damp for some reason. He was so focused on it that he barely acknowledged the amused laughs coming form the four girls around him. Not only did he win the Cascade Badge but he also received his fifth pokemon from the Gym Leaders as well. The sheer elation he felt at that moment made Ash wonder what was actually life.

"Hey, is he even breathing?"

"Ah! He is not moving! Quick! Like, give him mouth-to-mouth, Misty!"

"Lily!"

"Oh my…"

* * *

"So…" trailed off Leaf as she looked at Ash from where she sat opposite from him at a table for two in one of the many food places that were in Cerulean City. This place was supposed to have the best beef burgers in the city. She looked at her friend with a raised eyebrow. "Did you win?"

Ash returned the expression with a similar one. "Of course, I did. What did you expect?"

Leaf rolled her eyes. "Well, excuse me for being polite and asking. Boys, honestly," she complained in a mocking fashion at the end. The two of them chuckled before Leaf gave him a curious look. "So, which one did you face? I had to fight Daisy and she used a goldeen and a seadra. Forest and Owly, my ivysaur and hoothoot if you don't remember by the way, managed to win but barely. That seadra of hers was scary," she said, purposely shuddering to add flair to her words.

Ash snorted at that. "The seadra you faced is likely the offspring of her kingdra. That's probably why it was so strong," he said before answering her question. "And I actually battled Misty. She might not be an official Gym Leader yet but she gave me quite the challenge. Titania easily won against her poliwhirl but her starmie barely had to try to beat her. And Zephya won because of her superior speed, which caught Misty off guard. I don't know why their reputation isn't the same as Sabrina's or Koga's."

Leaf nodded in agreement at his last words before giving him a curious look. "Titania is your clefairy and Zephya is your pidgeotto with King's Nature, right?" She asked for confirmation and when he nodded, she squinted at him. "How can you be so lucky?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, who knows," he said before smirking at her. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you that they gave me a pokemon," he mock wondered before plastering a utterly fake expression of surprise. "Oops."

"What?!" She exclaimed in disbelief and blushed when she noticed the attention she got from the other customers. She turned towards Ash and glared at him heatedly when she saw his unrepentant grin. "I. Hate. You."

"No, you don't," he replied in an almost sing-song voice.

Leaf just shook her head with a groan before focusing excited eyes on him. "So, what pokemon did they give you?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't released him from his pokeball," he said with a shake of his head. "I only know for sure that it's a male and that he's water type. He's also bound to be relatively strong already despite being a bit younger than Igneel since he is the son of two pokemon from their main teams."

"What are you waiting for then?" Leaf looked at him quizzically.

"I will start training for the tournament this afternoon so I decided to postpone it until then. Besides, from what I gathered, the best thing I can do if I want to get in his good graces is to release him for the first time as far from civilization as I can," he explained as his hand unconsciously went to rub the shrunken fifth pokeball attached to his belt.

Leaf winced a bit. "Not one for humans?"

"It's more like he's been confined to a building most of his short life and finds that he prefers nature, actually."

Leaf gave a small sigh of relief on his behalf. "Thank Arceus. You would've had your work cut out for you if your new pokemon turned out to be one of those that just can't stand humans."

Ash nodded in agreement. "I know. If that had been the case, I don't think the Waterflower sisters would have given him to me, you know? Despite not looking like it, they seem like the reliable and responsible sort."

"Of course, you would speak well of them," muttered Leaf with some annoyance and when Ash blinked confusedly at her, she blushed a bit and shook her head. "Nothing. I was just thinking aloud. Anyways…" she trailed off as she decided to abruptly change the subject. "Have you signed up for the tournament? I heard that most of the spots are filled already."

Ash looked a bit unsure but he answered with a slow nod. "Erm, yeah. I signed up at the PokéCenter right after requesting a check-up, and healing if she needed it, for Titania."

Leaf's expression became one of concern. "Is she okay?"

Ash nodded his head with a smile. "Yeah. She just took a considerable amount of damage after exhausting herself today and one can never be too careful regarding the health of one's pokemon. They told me she only had some superficial bruises and that her stored moonlight was almost empty. She is not going to train today and I will let the window open tonight so she can get as much unfiltered moonlight as she need to get back to one hundred percent."

Leaf looked a him fondly. "Only you would risk getting a cold in a place like Cerulean just to make sure that one of your pokemon makes a complete recovery. Never change, Ash. Never change," she told him with a shake of her head at the end before adopting a pondering expression as she looked down at her lap. "I can see why she chose you to be her trainer though."

"It's not like I have ever gotten a cold," he pointed out lamely as he blushed a bit at the compliment, the second one he got today regarding his worthiness of being chosen by a clefairy.

Leaf rolled her eyes at him before looking at him with a flat expression. "And most certainly only you would nitpick at that part of what I said. Honestly, will you ever learn how to take a compliment without ruining the moment? I swear…"

Ash laughed nervously at her deadpan before perking up when he saw a waiter heading their way with what had to bee their orders. "Oh, look! Our food is coming!"

Leaf narrowed her eyes at him. "If you think I'm falling for that you have another da- oh!" Leaf was interrupted as a plate with a hamburger of considerable size and french fries was put in front of her. There was a similar one in front of Ash. Leaf's mouth watered as she looked at it. "Man, this looks delicious!"

"And smells delicious!" Ash nodded deliriously in agreement as he stared at it hungrily.

The waiter grinned knowingly as he deposited their soft drinks next to their plates. "And just you wait until you taste it! Please enjoy!" He declared before walking away to tend to other costumers that were calling for his attention.

The eyes of the two friends didn't stray away from the heavenly sight in front of them. They hungrily reached for their food at the same time.

"Let's dig in!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

A few hours after his lunch with Leaf, Ash stood next to a small pond located in the wilderness north of Cerulean City, which was made up mostly by plains and many ponds and rivers though there were patches of forests here and there as well. In order to reach this area, one had to cross the Nugget Bridge, which was another tourist attraction of Cerulean. The bridge went across the two northern twins before they curved to head through Cerulean City proper.

On his way here, Ash had seen the facilities that had been built for the tournament in five days and Ash wouldn't be surprised if it was capable of holding a few hundred people easily. Needless to say, he was eagerly waiting for it. Not only would he be battling Leaf and Gary at some point but there were bound to be other trainers that would be giving him and his friends a good challenge.

That was why he wasn't going to way any time and start training right now. But first…

In a flash of white Igneel, Zephya, Rexus and Titania appeared in front of him. They greeted him in their own manners, with Titania hopping towards him to hug his legs with a happy giggle, and he gave them a smile as he rubbed the clefairy's head fondly. "Hey, everyone. First things first, we managed to win our second badge thanks to Titania and Zephya here."

Titania merely cooed happily at him.

While Rexus didn't hesitate to voice his congratulations to the two of them, Igneel was more flippant about it even though it was clear he voiced his approval of their win. In response, Zephya nodded her head and chirped back at Rexus before giving Igneel an annoyed look and turning her head away with her version of a huff. His starter began to make that sound that resembled snickering. Zephya chirped back in annoyance and looked ready to smack him over the head with her wing. Rexus began to inconspicuously inch away from them.

Ash chuckled in amusement at the byplay. "Alright, cut it out you two," he said and his starter and first capture stopped their antics without fanfare. Even though Zephya got annoyed by Igneel quite easily sometimes, they actually got along very well. That was something Ash was very glad about. He smirked a bit as he looked at them. "We are going to start training for the tournament right away. The only one who won't be joining today is Titania because she got a bit hurt earlier and needs to recover her energy."

Rexus merely nodded in understanding. His ears twitched repeatedly as he caught the different sounds coming from all around them. While he wasn't as paranoid as when he was a nidoran, Ash knew that Rexus liked to be as aware of his surroundings as he could. That was just in his nature.

Zephya adopted an expression of clear concern as she chirped softly at Titania. The fairy pokemon released Ash from her affectionate hug before hopping towards the avian to assure her that she was okay. Ash smiled bright at that. Those two were quickly shaping up to be best friends.

Igneel, always excited at the thought of getting stronger, gave a reptilian grin as the flame of his tail flared brightly for a moment. His eyes shone with glee as he gave a barking roar and flexed his arms. Ash just rolled his eyes at him with a chuckled.

The black-haired trainer from Pallet Town then grinned and reached for his newest pokeball. "So…" he began to say, trailing off as he held the pokeball up and getting the undivided attention of his friends as they stared at it. "We got a new team member. The Cerulean gym leaders thought that I would be the best trainer for him and I'm not planning on disappointing them. So, be prepared for anything, but let's give him a warm welcome, okay?"

He received four sets of nods with an added giggle from Titania.

Igneel and Rexus moved to stand in front of Ash protectively just in case but they made sure that their demeanor was welcoming. Titania and Zephya did the same but at his sides. With an expectant and excited smile on his face, Ash pressed the release button and watched as the pokeball opened up with a flash of white energy that began to form a smallish form that was about as tall as Igneel used to be when he got him from Professor Oak.

His grin threatened to split his face when a bipedal, blue crocodile with red spines on its back and tail was revealed. The spine on its back was larger than the one on its tail and had additional ridges running parallel at the sides of the main one. Its head was large compared to the rest of its body and there were ridges above its eyes. Much of the head's size was composed by its snout and strong looking jaw. There were two visible teeth on the tip of its upper jaw and two rows of three teeth on each side of its lower jaw. On its chest was a yellow, somewhat V-shaped pattern that extends to its arms with a line bisecting the pattern. It had five sharp claws and three toes on its stubby looking feet. Its eyes were a deep red and were surrounded by a black pattern.

' _A totodile!'_ Exclaimed Ash mentally with the light as he stared at the pokemon. They weren't exactly rare in Kanto and Johto but outside of getting one as your starter from Professor Elm in Johto if he was your sponsor it was difficult to see a trainer with one. Feraligatr were extremely territorial and protective of their offspring. Not only that, but since they weren't solitary pokemon, more often that not you could only see them in nests of a dozen feraligatr and a bunch of croconaw. Totodile evolved relatively quickly in the wild.

He watched as the big jaw pokemon looked at his new surroundings with visible surprise and delight in his eyes. Ash wasn't surprised when those emotions faded a bit when he and his friends were finally noticed. The totodile didn't become aggressive but he was definitely wary as he regarded them.

Ash smiled without showing his teeth in case that could be taken as a sign of aggression. "Hey there. My name is Ash. These are Igneel, Zephya, Rexus and Titania," he introduced himself first before motioning to each one of his team as he said their names. They gave their own greetings, Titania being the most enthusiastic of course, and Ash's smile widened when the totodile waved and chuffed back in greeting, his eyes going a bit wide when he looked at the fairy pokemon.

That was a good sign. It seemed like pokemon instinctively knew what it meant for a clefairy to be accompanying a human. But that begged a question: Why weren't Igneel, Zephya and Rexus that surprised when Titania had appeared before them or when she agreed to join? Perhaps since they knew Ash beforehand, were they not shocked about it? That was something he had to ask them.

"So, the Waterflower sisters told me that you didn't like being at their gym, right?" He asked and he watched as the totodile's eyes shone with recognition when he mentioned the sisters before nodding in the affirmative at his question. "Well, since they weren't going to force you to be at a place you didn't want, they thought it was a good idea to hand you over to me so I can become your trainer. What do you say to becoming the strongest you can be and go on adventures all over?"

Totodile seemed a bit surprised at first but when he heard his offer his eyes glinted with interest. After shooting Titania another look of surprise, and then looking at his team overall, he seemed to reach a conclusion after a minute. A reptilian grin appeared on his face, this one quite different from Igneel's since his mouth was open while Igneel just pulled his lips back and showed off his teeth, before his head bobbed up and down in an affirmative nod.

Ash's grin came back with a vengeance. "Welcome to the team," he said and that seemed to be enough for the rest of his pokemon. Titania giggled in delight before she began to hop towards the small blue crocodile so she could make friends with him properly. Igneel, Zephya and Rexus followed after her visibly more subdued but with clear interest in meeting their new teammate.

Ash let them interact with each other for a few minutes before clapping to get their attention. "Alright. You will get to know each other more later on. Let's get down to business now," he said and his lips twitched when the totodile show his new teammates confused looks as they visibly straightened up and focused their attention on Ash. When he gave what looked like his version of a shrug and did the same, Ash let out a chuckle. "We have a tournament to win in five days. That means that were going to be training hard for the next four days. Titania, you will be joining us tomorrow."

He focused first on Igneel. "You'll work on using Fire Fang and Crunch at the same. And we have been neglecting the development of your draconic abilities so you are also going to work on dragon breath. Since we are going to be focusing on training, I'm sure you can get it done before the tournament," said Ash and he shared a grin with his starter as his tail flame flared up and he flexed his claws. Ash noticed that totodile looked pleased with what he was seeing. Another good sign.

Ash then turned towards Zephya. "I want you to completely master air slash. That should only take you a day or two. Oh, and I saw what you did with your twister during your fight. I think it would be a good idea to increase your abilities with as well," he commented towards his avian friend. She merely chirped in the affirmative before nodding her head elegantly.

He then looked at Rexus. "Let's have you work on switching between wind horn and toxic horn on the fly. Other than that, I think the best course of action for now would be to improve upon CQC with more body enhancement techniques. We'll start with stomp and see where we can go from there," he told the poison pin pokemon, who just chuffed and nodded at him.

Ash regarded Titania with a smile. "You won't be training until tomorrow but I'm sure that you can accomplish what I have planned for you with time to spare. We'll work on a few combination techniques and variants with the moves you already know. I also want you to learn Dazzling Gleam and Fairy Wind to give your more options to attack using fairy type energy." Titania didn't seem to mind that she was not going to train today, not that Ash was surprised.

"Alright. Get to it," he told his three first companions and he watched with a proud smile as they began to diligently work on what they were told. He turned towards his other two pokemon and snorted when he saw that Titania giggling as she poked the totodile's many ribs. The small blue crocodile didn't seem annoyed by that though. He was just looking at Ash expectantly.

Ash pulled out his pokedex, flipped it open and aimed the scanner directly at him. He smiled at the questioning look he got. "Before we start training, I'd like to see what you are capable of. Don't worry. This will only take a second," he said before pressing the button. Totodile merely blinked when he heard the dinging sound and the smooth, synthetic voice coming from Ash's device.

 _ **Totodile. The big jaw pokemon. Totodile's jaws are very powerful. While the pokémon may think it is just playfully nipping, its bite has enough power to cause serious injury. Its powerful, well-developed jaws are capable of crushing anything. Even its Trainer must be careful. It is small but rough and tough. It won't hesitate to take a bite out of anything that moves.**_

 _ **This totodile is male and possesses the ability known as Torrent. It knows the moves scratch, water gun, bite and aqua jet. It possesses the egg moves ice punch and dragon dance but they have not been unlocked yet.**_

Ash slowly lowered his pokedex and looked at the newest addition to his team with both of his eyebrows raised. "How did you learn aqua jet? I though that none of the Waterflower sisters had gotten around training you," he said and the totodile responded with his equivalent of a shrug. Ash shook his head with some disbelief as he continued. "And what's up with those egg moves? Ice punch you probably inherited from your feraligatr parent, but, dragon dance? Who's your other parent?"

The totodile just shrugged again. With a giggle, Titania continued her friendly probing.

Ash snorted as he flipped closed his pokedex and put it away. "Alright. I guess I'll just have to ask the Waterflower sisters when I see them again," he shrugged his shoulders before smiling down at the blue croc. "For now, you'll work on mastering what you already know. I'll have to see how you like to fight and do a bit of research in order to determine how to best train you going forward." The big jaw pokemon nodded in understanding.

Ash's smile widened a bit. "So, you noticed how everyone has their own name, right? I think me giving you a name that you can call you own helps in bringing in us closer together. Would you like one for yourself?"

After a moment of consideration, the totodile nodded again, this time in acceptance.

Ash had been thinking about a name not too long after he received his pokeball. Since he had known that it was a male and a water-type, it had been easy to come up with possible names for his new teammate. The moment he saw what he was a totodile, Ash narrowed it down to what he felt was the perfect choice. "Tell me, how does 'Abzu' sound to you?" Abzu was the god of all fresh water, thus, it was fitting for a totodile.

The massive grin he received was answer enough for him.

Ash grinned right back. "Abzu it is then."

For some odd reason, Titania gave a random cheer of delight before enthusiastically hugging the newly christened Abzu, who merely tried his best to pry her off him. Contrary to what his pokedex entry had claimed and the words of Daisy, Abzu had yet to try and take a bite out of anything. He suspected it had something to do with Titania's presence. The fact that she was clearly annoying him now and he was not trying to bite her made him think that was the case.

Ash just shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. That was just another oddity to add to the growing list.

* * *

It was the day before the tournament that an unwelcomed, unwanted and irritating presence made itself known.

He had already released all five of his friends who by this point had already accomplished everything they had set to do before the tournament. Since their time was solely dedicated to training it made sense that they took less time to reach their goals than when they were on the road. Traveling and battling cut down the time of actual training quite a bit after all. Because of that, Ash had only planned to have them go through drills using all their moves and techniques and then battle each other throughout the morning. Since the tournament was going to be held during the afternoon the next day, his team was going to have today's afternoon and evening and tomorrow's morning to rest and get back to one hundred percent.

Before Ash could instruct them on what to do, he noticed how Rexus and Zephya suddenly perked up as they turned their attention south of where they were. Ash and his other pokemon followed their gaze and he scowled when he saw the figure that was swaggering towards him with a clearly arrogant expression on his face.

Ash noticed that his pokemon had picked up on his feelings regarding Gary and where displaying their displeasure with his presence. Igneel and Abzu were brandishing their sharp claws as they growled from deep within their chest, Igneel's tail flame flaring up in warning, Zephya glared and cawed as she displayed her massive wingspan, Rexus bristled as his barbs and spikes looked ready to start secreting poison and Titania was uncharacteristically frowning.

"Gary," he said in distaste the moment the his brown-haired 'rival' stood within hearing range several yards away from him. Arrogant or not, he knew that Gary wasn't stupid enough to get any closer when so many pokemon were directing their aggression towards him. He took notice of the tough-looking wartortle, who was imitating Gary's arrogant expression and posture, and the lumbering graveler with a wicked smirk on its face that stood at his sides.

"If it ain't Ashy-boy," mocked Gary snidely after his slight apprehension at the greeting he got from his pokemon left him. "You know, I didn't believe Leafy-girl told me that you were here and that you were going to participate in the…" he trailed off when he finally registered what his eyes were seeing and they widened in disbelief. "What's up with that big ass pidgeotto?! Is that a freaking clefairy?! And how the hell did you get a totodile?!" His voice was fully of envy.

"That's none of your business," he said flatly. Gary would eventually deduce that Zephya possessed King's Nature. And he didn't need to know the details regarding Titania joining his team nor the fact that Abzu was given to him by the Waterflower sisters.

At his response, Gary gritted his teeth before clinking his tongue in clear irritation. "Whatever! It's not like that makes you a better trainer than me," he said, quickly regaining his arrogant air. "Are you going to participate in tomorrow's tournament? You do know that you need two badges at least to qualify, right? What's even your trainer rank? G?" He snickered at the end, thinking that implying that Ash would advance backwards was funny.

Ash rolled his eyes and kept his scowl in place. "I beat the Cerulean Gym four days ago. I reached D-Rank as well," he said, his voice tinted with annoyance.

He wasn't exactly irritated at Gary's words per se. It was more that they reminded him of a minor annoyance that happened with his rank. After his first interaction with Abzu was done, Ash had gone to check his 'winnings' from his gym battle regarding ranking points and credits. While he had been more than satisfied by the amount of credit he had received, eight thousand to be specific, he had been annoyed by the fact that he had only received four hundred ranking points.

Why? Because it had left him thirty points short of reaching D-Rank. So, while it had taken him about half an hour to look for another E-Ranked trainer to have a two-on-two battle so he could get the points he needed to finally reach the next rank and sure, he might have taken the opportunity to also determine Abzu's preferred battle style, it still had been annoying.

Gary crossed his arms and raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "You sure? I mean, that's hard to believe, what with you moving so slow and not even having a full team yet," he said and the wartortle imitated his new posture. "Just so you know, I have these two right here plus a spearow, a nidorina, a growlithe and an abra. I mean, I have a bunch of other pokemon but gramps insisted on me focusing the ones I find the most useful," he bragged with a smug grin. The graveler's smirk widened as it smacked its rocky chest.

Leaf had already told him about Gary's team so he wasn't surprised by it. "Why are you even here, Gary? Don't you have something better to do?" He asked instead, his annoyance and irritation plain on his voice. Igneel, Abzu and Rexus took a threatening step forward. Zephya rose up until she was flying above him with an angry caw and Titania's frown was even more prominent now.

Gary eyed his pokemon with thinly veiled apprehension before smirked victoriously as his own two pokemon stepped in front of him. "What? You mad?" He asked mockingly before shaking his head. "I just wanted to see if you were any good. Other than your apparent luck for getting rare pokemon, I'm unimpressed."

"I'm going to make you eat those words tomorrow," promised Ash with a fierce scowl on his face.

Gary laughed arrogantly in amusement. "I'd like to see you try, Ashy-boy," he said before turning around and walking away. His wartortle and graveler stayed back to leer at his pokemon for a moment before turning around and following after their trainer.

Ash glared at Gary's back until he couldn't see him any more before sighing tiredly. He turned towards his pokemon as they relaxed, with Zephya landing back on the ground and Titania adopting once again her sunny disposition. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Gary Oak," he told them flatly.

He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him at the unimpressed sounds and expressions he got from his friends at that moment.

* * *

Ash had underestimated the size of the arena the League built for the Nugget Bridge Tournament. There were easily more than a thousand people in attendance.

' _And this is only a minor league tournament. I can only imagine what the higher ranked ones must be like,'_ thought Ash with some apprehension as he stood in the middle of the single battlefield that was in the middle of the grassy arena with other thirty-one contestants. Ash could also see many cameras and television crews from different local television networks and from the official League crew, which he knew they were going to record it for the League database.

He wasn't surprised that the tournament was going to be televised. There was a lot of profit to be had in that business. Advertisements and company sponsorships were just the tip of the iceberg.

"Nervous?" Asked Leaf from where she stood at his right.

Ash turned towards her and smiled a bit unsurely. "Kind of," he admitted. He could feel the thousands of eyes looking at him and the other competitors. While those eyes were far from hostile and didn't have any kind of negative emotions, they still made it uneasy. He knew for certain that Rexus and Zephya, with their sensitive hearing, were not going to like it when they came out for their chance to battle. "You?"

Leaf nodded without hesitation. "Yep. It's taking everything I have to not faint right now," she said evenly. Ash could tell that while her voice didn't match her answer, she was indeed nervous. Her foot was tapping repeatedly on the floor of arena and she was fiddling with the pokeballs attached to her left.

Ash made a sympathetic sound before turning to look at the other competitors. It made him feel a bit better to see that most were just as nervous as him and Leaf. There were two noticeable exceptions. Gary was obviously one of those two. The brown-haired grandson of Samuel Oak was soaking up the attention with glee as he waved and threw kisses at the crowd. The other exception was a purple haired teen that looked to be his age. He had a serious expression on his face as he stared straight ahead with his arms crossed over his chest.

Shrugging at that, Ash tapped Leaf on her shoulder before nodding in Gary's direction when he got her attention. She snorted and two of them snickered in amusement at the sight of Gary making a fool himself in their opinion.

"Thanks," she told him softly after the moment of amusement passed. She knew that he did so to make her feel better.

Ash waved it off with a smile of his own. "No problem."

They couldn't talk further because in that moment a nicely dressed man with brown hair climbed up the steps of the small stage erected in front of the main stands of the arena. He held a microphone on his hand that he rose to his mouth the moment he stood in the middle of it, facing away from the competitors and towards the stands. "Good afternoon, everyone! My name is Austin and I will be your announcer during this event!" Ash couldn't see the speakers but his voice easily carried across the entire arena and was clearly heard over the loud murmurs of the crowd.

The crowd roared their approval at what finally seemed like the start of the tournament. Ash didn't know whether it was that sound or his increased nerves that made his bones vibrate. He hoped it was the former.

"We have gathered here to witness the prowess of our newly starting trainers! None of the participants here have more than two months into their careers!" Declared Austin as he flourished towards them in an over the top manner. The crowd roared again at his words. "This is an opportunity to see them at their beginnings so we can see their growth the moment we see them again at the Indigo Conference! This is most certainly a treat!"

He paused for a moment to let the gathered masses of display their enthusiasm once again before talking into the microphone once again. "We also have special guests attending today! Our very own Sensational Sisters!" He made another flourish, this time towards the closed off tent from which he had come from.

Ash's eyebrow rose into his hairline as he saw Daisy, Violet, Lily and Misty step out of the tent and the crowd rose to their feet as they gave their loudest roar yet. The four sisters, wearing stylish clothing that were obviously tailor made, smiled widely as the waved at the crowd and walked towards what passed as the VIP section of the stands. It seemed like they were used to the attention. Ash supposed it was obvious, considering their famous water shows, which he had yet to go see. He had been too busy preparing for today. Perhaps tomorrow?

"And now our contestants have all the more reason to do their best!" Said Austin after the Waterflower sisters sat down and the hype of the crowd died down. "And now to explain the basic rules of the event: the first three rounds will be one-on-one battles; the semifinals will be two-on-two battles and the final will be a three-on-three battle! For those who win on the first round they will receive a reward of one hundred ranking points and one thousand credits, the reward doubling as they keep on winning. There, is however, an exception! The winner of the tournament will receive fifteen hundred ranking points, fifteen thousand credits and the chance to pick five one-use-only technical machines courtesy of the Silph Company!"

Ash's eyes widened and gleamed in excitement as he heard all the rewards he would be getting if he won. While the sheer amount of ranking points and credits was very much well received, the real treasure were in the five free TMs that were the prize for the winner of the tournament.

TMs, or technical machines, were so precious become they shortened the amount of time a pokemon needed to learn a move they had the potential to do by imparting the knowledge directing into their brains. While learning through a TM didn't mean mastery of the move right of the bat, it certainly cut down the time needed to reach that by a significant margin.

It was because of that and many other inventions, such as the modern pokeballs and their upgraded versions and even his own backpack, that Silph Co. was the most successful company in both Kanto and Johto. With their focus on developing and manufacturing technology to increase the livelihood and safety of pokemon trainers, the 'most popular occupation' there was, and their close partnership with the Kanto/Johto League, the body that ran those regions, it wasn't surprising that this was the case.

Pokémon Marts all over the regions were property of Silph Co. and the healing equipment and medicines used in Pokémon Centers were also developed by Silph. Co. They were also the main investors regarding official League tournaments, such as this one. That should give one an idea of how far reaching they were. There was even a rumor that Charles Goodshow, the President of the Kanto/Johto League, and Arthur McMillan, the President and CEO of Silph Co., had an internal political shadow war going to determine who was the one that truly ran Kanto and Johto.

"Oh, wow! Five free TMs? I definitely have to win!" Exclaimed Leaf, unknowingly pulling Ash out of his thoughts.

Ash looked around and noticed that all the participants looked very determined to win, their nervousness nowhere to be seen suddenly. At that moment, Ash's own apprehension and nervous left him and there was only excitement and determination. He was definitely going to win.

"Now! Let us see who will be fight who in the first round!" He then flourished towards the gigantic screens that were on top of the main stands of the arena.

As the screens flared to life first displaying the symbols of the League and Silph Co. in a white background, Ash looked up to see where he was placed and when he was going to be battling. Other than Leaf and Gary, he didn't care who he fought. _'I'll beat them. I'll beat them all!'_ Ash thought fiercely as he tightened his fists as his side.

The moment the tournament brackets were revealed, Austin spoke again. "And there we have it! The first one to fight are…"

* * *

 **Nugget Bridge Tournament. First Round.**

Ash stared at his first opponent from where he stood inside the trainer box of his side of the battlefield. His expression was blank, meaning that he had entered 'battle mode' and his focus was completely in the incoming battle. His opponent was another boy his age that had dark brown hair and blue eyes. He looked determine but for some reason he was looking at Ash with some apprehension.

Unknown to him, Ash's blank face and red eyes were more than a bit unsettling and intimidating.

"This is the tenth fight of the first round," declared the referee, a non-descript man wearing a white shirt and black pants holding a green colored flag in one hand and a red colored flag in the other. "On the green box, we have Mark Henderson from Saffron City, and on the red box, we have Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. This will be a one-on-one fight, the winner of which will advance to the next round. The battle will be over if one of the pokemon is knocked out or I deem it unfit to battle to prevent unnecessary injuries. Are the combatants ready?"

"Yeah!" Shouted Mark as he visibly psyched himself up.

Ash simply nodded.

The referee raised his green flag, which was the one that corresponded with Mark's side of the battlefield, before speaking again. "The green trainer will release first! The red trainer will have ten seconds to release his own pokemon! The battle shall start when both pokemon are on the battlefield! Understood?" He received two nods. "Green trainer! Release your pokemon!"

"Go! Houndour!" He shouted as he threw a generic looking pokeball that opened up and released in a flash of white a quadruped, canine pokémon with short, black fur and a red underbelly and muzzle. Its ears and tail were both short and pointed. Two fangs protruded from its upper jaw and its triangular nose was black. There were white bands on its ankles and rib-like ridges on its back. It had a simplistic stylized skull on its forehead with the eye orbits creating eyebrow patterning above its actual eyes. It also had circular red paw pads on each of its three-toed paws.

Ash took a moment to look at the pokemon his opponent released before making his decision. He turned towards were the Waterflower sisters were and released Abzu, who exchanged growls with the houndour the moment he appeared. It was only after seeing their wide and delighted eyes that he turned back to the battlefield, managing to catch the shimmer of air as psychic barriers were brought up. His message had been clear.

 _Let me show you that you didn't make a mistake when you gave him to me._

"And both Mark and Ash have released Johto natives that look quite fierce and ready to battle! This promise to be quite the heated encounter!" Austin's voice was heard all over as he did his job as announcer and commentator. The crowd roared in excitement for a moment before quieting down in order to pay their utmost attention to the battle and allow the commands of the trainers to be heard clearly by their pokemon. It was an unspoken rule during tournaments after all and everyone respected it.

"Flame charge!"

"Water gun."

The houndour snarled as its body was enveloped by a thin coat of dark red flames as it began to sprint directly towards its opponent, black smoke trailing behind it. Abzu merely reared its head back, opened its great jaw wide before releasing a thick stream of pressurized water directly towards the incoming houndour.

Abzu's water gun collided directly with the charging houndour with the result being a cloud of steam enveloping most of the middle of the battlefield sounding as a pained yelp was heard.

Mark's eyes widened in worry. "Houndour! Hit with sneak bite!"

Ash frowned as he heard those instructions. "Brace yourself, Abzu," he said and the small blue croc grunted in confirmation as he visibly tensed his body in preparation for anything. Even though he had a fairly good idea of what 'sneak bite' was, they couldn't see the houndour due to the thick steam and he didn't want to possibly mess up because Mark's orders weren't what they appeared to be.

Ash's suspicious were confirmed when the houndour appeared out of seemingly nowhere in a small warping of darkness at Abzu's right with its maw ready to bite down on the big jaw pokemon's arm. Since he had been ready for anything, Abzu managed to barely move away before the houndour bit him. The dark pokemon snarled before it disappeared in another warping of darkness as it slipped into what Ash recognized as a feint attack.

Houndour wasn't actually teleporting. He was just using dark-type energy to make itself momentarily invisible. Since it was already channeling dark-type energies, combining it with bite, another dark-type move, made it a very efficient technique.

With Abzu's current move set, there was only one thing Ash could do to counter it. "Aqua jet when it appears. Finish it with water gun."

The houndour appeared once again a second just after Ash spoke this time from Abzu's left. The big jaw pokemon followed Ash's instructions to the letter and its body was enveloped in a swirling aura of water and blue energy as the first phase of aqua jet activated. This worked as an impromptu shield against the houndour's attack. The dark fire hound yelped in pain as it smacked against a barrier of its number one weakness, steam trailing from its form as it was sent flying back a few feet away.

Abzu, however, was not done. With a growl, the second phase of aqua jet activated and he surged towards the slowly rising houndour at incredible speeds enveloped in his aura of water and light blue energy which had taken the vague shape of a drill. Abzu struck the houndour right in its flank and it let out its loudest yelp of pain yet as it was sent flying away towards the side of the battlefield were the referee was standing.

"No! Houndour!" Cried Mark.

Abzu saw that the houndour was still conscious and struggling to get back up so he followed the second part of Ash's instructions. He launched a second water gun directly towards his opponent and with was with a sense of victory that both Abzu and Ash watched as the houndour was forced to smack back first against the psychic barriers with a muffled, pained whimper. It didn't even make an effort to get back up again.

The referee only took a second to rise his red flag. "Houndour is unable to battle! Totodile wins! The red trainer passes to the next round!" He declared.

"And after showing us a clear affinity for unorthodox tactics, Ash Ketchum solidly secures his first win of the tournament!" Declared Austin crowd roared their approval of the short but intense battle.

As the psychic barriers shimmered out of existence, Ash dipped his heat in respect towards Mark. Mark returned the gesture of sportsmanship with a nod before he returned his houndour and hurried out of the battlefield. Ash then turned towards Abzu and sent him a grin. The blue croc grinned right back at him before flexing his muscle, a gesture that he learned from Igneel. Ash laughed and shook his head before returning him.

He then turned towards where the Waterflower sisters and he smirked when he saw that both Daisy and Violet were standing up and clapping as they looked at him with wide smiles on their faces, Lily had a grin almost splitting her face as she cheered what seemed to be his name while doing a little dance and Misty had a shocked expression on her flushed face as she looked at him.

' _Mission accomplished, then,'_ he thought to himself in satisfaction. He inclined his head towards them before moving to the waiting area. The tournament would only last the afternoon and part of the early evening after all. Besides, he wanted to watch the battle of his next opponent so he could see what to expect.

* * *

 **Nugget Bridge Tournament. Third Round.**

Ash easily shrugged off the glare his opponent was sending his way to try and intimidate him. He returned the aggressive look with a blank expression of his own. Needless to say, his opponents attempt of intimidation was ineffective. _'Titania's happy giggles and squeals when she is fighting are way scarier,'_ he thought with amusement.

His opponent's name was John Price and he had managed to reach the third round with some difficulty. On his first fight he used a bellsprout to defeat another kid's shellder and his second fight was quite a close match between his tyrogue and a machop. He liked to overwhelm his opponents with a barrage of overwhelming attacks that didn't give a chance to come out with a counter.

"Red trainer! Release your pokemon!" Declared the referee raising his red flag towards him.

Ash smirked a bit. He had the perfect pokemon for this match. In a flash of white, Rexus appeared on in the side of his battlefield with a short roar. He stared hard at the other trainer as his barbs and spikes began to leak with poison. His oversized ears twitched in a bit of discomfort due to the loud sounds coming from the crowd.

After a moment of deliberation, John release a nasty and feral looking raticate that was almost as big as Rexus himself.

"And after showing us a ferocious charmeleon, Ash Ketchum releases a calm and collected nidorino! Will it be able to match John Price's vicious raticate?! Let's see!" Announced Austin over the speakers as the crowd quieted down for the battle. Ash's smirk widened a bit when he recalled the beatdown Igneel give to his second-round opponent's doduo and his following show of victory and dominance. The crowd certainly loved him.

"Toxic spikes around you. Harass it with mud slap and long-range poison sting. Prepare for CQC," muttered Ash.

"Hyper fang and fury swipes with it! Destroy that nidorino!" Roared John as he pointed towards Rexus in a dramatic fashion.

Ash shook his head at the predictable move from his opponent. He watched dispassionately as the raticate's massive fangs and front claws gleamed with the power of the moves it was using to enhance it self before shooting towards Rexus at very fast speeds.

Said poison pin pokemon, used to fight against Zephya and Igneel who were much faster, didn't bat an eyelash as he formed the sphere of venomous substances and poison-type energy right above him in the blink of an eye. The poisonous sphere then shot upwards before dividing itself into smaller spheres that went into the ground of Rexus' side of the battlefield before the raticate even reached the half way mark.

He wasn't surprised when the raticate ordered its trainer's frantic words to stop and ran directly into Rexus' poisoned field. The raticate flinched as not a moment later its body glowed purple, indicating that it had been successfully poisoned by the toxic spikes. Before it recovered, it was buffeted by a glob of thick mud that sent it sprawling. The raticate then hissed when it was hit by a barrage of purple tinted needless which effectively increased the amount of poison on its bloodstream.

"No! Dodge those attacks Raticate! Get in close and use hyper crunch!" Screamed John at his pokemon.

The raticate shook its head rapidly before snarling and shooting towards Rexus with its fangs gleaming and surrounded by dark-type energy. It managed to dodge the following barrage of poison sting but it flinched as its body was wrecked by pain from the poison that was inside of it and couldn't evade the following mud slap.

This trend continued on for the following moments. The raticate would try to get in close while successfully dodging Rexus' first attack only to be distracted by the pain produced by the poison and thus becoming unable to evade the following attack. By the time it managed to close the distance between them, Rexus only needed to use a headbutt enhanced wind horn to send it flying away to the middle and defeat it for good.

He had not even moved from his spot.

"Raticate is unable to fight! Nidorino is the winner! The red trainer is the victor!"

"And after an even shorter fight than his previous ones, Ash Ketchum secures his spot on the semifinals!" The crowd roared with approval alongside Austin's voice.

Ash quickly returned Rexus to spare his ears the loud noises. "Excellent work, bud," he whispered to it and smiled when his pokeball wiggled a bit. He attached the pokeball to its place on his belt and he looked up to tip his hat at John in respect only to receive a hard glare before he turned around and hurried away. Ash blinked before shrugging his shoulders. It wasn't the first time he dealt with sore losers nor would it be the last.

He sent a short wave to the spectators, which they seemed to approve of since cheers became even louder, before he stepped out of the trainer's box and began to make his way towards the waiting area. He had an eager smirk on his face as he shoved his gloved hands into the pockets of his pants.

"And now a twenty-minute break before the semifinals and the final!"

He was fighting Gary next and those twenty minutes couldn't pass fast enough.

* * *

 **Nugget Bridge Tournament. Semifinals.**

Ash had a frown on his face as he watched the match between Leaf and the purple haired teen with a serious expression that had been unaffected by the number of people watching the tournament. His name was Paul Shinji and he was apparently from Veilstone City, which was located in Sinnoh. Ash didn't know why he was starting his journey here in Kanto, nor did he really care, but Paul certainly caught his interest.

He was good. As in good enough to steamroll his competition just like he, Leaf and Gary had done.

Paul had used a krabby that looked more like it was going to evolve into a kingler and a rhyhorn that was easily stronger than the one Brock had used against him to win his three first rounds using tactics that Ash would admit he'd used if he was in possession of those pokemon though perhaps not as ruthlessly as he had done. His krabby had used vice gripe to choke a snubbull to unconsciousness and his rhyhorn had stomped repeatedly on a mareep until the referee had called the match on his favor and had rammed a ponyta into the psychic barriers repeatedly until its trainer forfeited the match. He wasn't exactly popular amongst the crowd after those matches.

And now he was battling Leaf.

Ash had noticed that like him, Leaf preferred to use personalized battle styles for each of her pokemon. Her mankey, whom he recalled was named Chuck, had defeated a meowth using the hit and run tactics they were known to use is the wild, Owly, her hoothoot, had defeated a venonat by making it fall asleep before attacking it from afar and she had forced a trainer to forfeit when she used her spinarak, Silk, to trap a marill using string shot before starting to sap its energy using absorb. The crowd liked Leaf as much as they liked Ash.

Things, however, took a nasty turn when her match against Paul began. It had been his turn to release first and he had begun the two-on-two match with his rhyhorn. Leaf had released her psyduck, whose name was Donny, to take advantage of its weakness to water. After some effort, her psyduck had managed to pull the win and it seemed like Leaf held the advantage.

And then Paul released his elekid. Before Donny had a chance to even blink, it had been hit with a thunder shock that knocked it out in an instant.

A troubled Leaf had followed by releasing Forest, her ivysaur, and Ash was watching her starter try its best to keep the speedy pokemon at bay. The elekid's fists were engulfed with lighting as it used thunder punch and its body was enhanced with quick attack as it avoided the ivysaur's vines and razor leaves with some visible effort.

That was when Leaf made a crucial mistake.

After visibly getting frustrated by Forest's ability to hit Paul's elekid from afar, she ordered him to fill the battlefield with a combination of poison powder, sleep powder and stun spores in what looked like an attempt to box it in to create an opportunity for Forest to successfully hit it or grab it with his vines. Had it been a pokemon other than an elekid, the tactic would have been sound and successful.

But Leaf apparently forgot that the effect spores were highly flammable. Ash swore that a victorious smirk appeared on the faces of Paul and his elekid before he had his electric pokemon use a simple thunder wave to set Leaf's side of the battlefield on fire.

Ash growled as he watched a pale and trembling couldn't do anything but return her badly burned and injured starter the moment its unconscious form was revealed and the psychic barriers were dropped. He saw the tears in her eyes as she ran away from the are so she could get treatment for her pokemon.

The refereed declared Paul the winner with a disapproving expression on his face. No one cheered when he returned his pokemon as Austin announced him passing to the finals and uncaringly walked away.

A few minutes later, it was finally his turn.

"Ash Ketchum. Report to the arena for your battle," he heard the voice of the referee call him over the intercom of that was on the waiting area. With the bill of his hat obscuring his eyes, Ash rose up from his sitting position and walked out of the room. He walked through the short hallway between where the waiting area was and the entrance to the battlefield.

He paid no heed to the cheers of the crowd or the over the top manner Austin announced him as he stepped out and walked towards his trainer box. Ash showed no reaction, other than a light twitch of his fingers, when he saw a smug Gary swagger his way to his own trainer box as he waved at the crowd that cheered and clapped for him with noticeably less enthusiasm. His obvious arrogance, while not as bad as Paul's ruthlessness and cruelty, had not endeared him to the crowd and for some reason Gary was oblivious to it.

"Well, Ashy-boy, I'm honestly surprised you managed to get this far," he said mockingly as began to spin a pokeball on the tip of his finger. "But this is as far as you go, I'm afraid. I have to teach that Sinnoh prick not to look down on me. I-!"

"Gary."

The grandson of Professor Oak was abruptly interrupted when he heard Ash's flat and cold voice. Gary would never admit it but he flinched in fright when he saw Ash glaring at him with fury etched on his face. His expression honestly made him look a lot like his charmeleon when it was snarling and Gary swore that his creepy red eyes were glowing a bit. What the…

"Shut up for once and let's fight."

The brown-haired teen scowled before wrapping his fingers tightly around the pokeball he had been spinning to show off. "Fine! I'll teach you not to look down on me too!"

The referee sent Ash a slightly concerned look since his current disposition was at odds with his earlier one which used to be that of a quiet but courteous teen. He shook his head before raising his flags. "This will be a two-on-two match between the red trainer, Ash Ketchum, and the green trainer, Gary Oak. Items are not allowed. Substitutions are not allowed. Returning your pokemon back to their pokeballs means that they are forfeited. The loser will be the one who loses both pokemon first. Are both combatants ready?"

Gary nodded with a sneer on his face.

Ash gave a sharp one of his own.

The referee lowered his red flag. "Green trainer! Release your pokemon!"

"Win for me, Spearow!" Shouted Gary as he released an avian pokémon that had rough, brown plumage on its head and brown tail feathers. It had narrow, dark brown eyes with white pupils and a hooked beak. The feathers covering its wings were pinkish red with lighter tips and it had a beige underside with two thin horizontal stripes. Its light pink feet had two toes in front and one in the back. Black feathers covered its back. The spearow began to beat its wings at a fast pace and took to the air above Gary's side of the field, its eyes glaring furiously at Ash as it cawed.

Ash could tell by its current overall size, its lengthened wingspan and beak and its lighter coloring when compared to the normal spearow that this was one was quite close to its evolution. That, however, hardly mattered.

He released Zephya who announced her presence with a powerful caw as she elegantly flapped her wings once, displaying her massive wingspan, and rose to the air above Ash's side of the field. She glared down at her opponent with visible contempt. She easily shrugged off its angry caws as the psychic barriers shimmered into existence.

A hush fell over the arena the moment Zephya was revealed. Everyone could see that she was twice the size of a normal pidgeotto and that she wasn't showing the signs of her species that would point out an impeding evolution

"By Arceus! That must be a pidgeotto with King's Nature! Let it be known that pokemon with the King's Nature are even rarer than those with a variant coloration which we colloquially refer to as 'shiny'! Ash Ketchum has certainly become the most surprising rookie participating in this tournament!" Exclaimed Austin, his voice tinted with noticeable excitement and disbelief. The crowd was so shocked at the sight of such a rare specimen even if it was of a pokemon that would be pretty common otherwise.

Ash, however, wasn't in the mood to enjoy the reaction of those around him. "Jet Wing. Shoot it down. Twister. Air slash if its still conscious," growled Ash through gritted teeth. Zephya's sensitive ears would easily catch his orders.

The avian pokemon that was Ash's very first capture noticed her trainer's current disposition. She could feel that his anger wasn't directed at her and only to a certain extent to the trainer of the uncouth bird that dared to insult her and think it could fly the same air as she. Zephya's eyes narrowed in distaste before she cawed powerfully, beat her wings twice and disappeared in a blur of motion.

Ash watched as Gary gaped, along as the crowd gasped, when Zephya reappeared right above his spearow and before he could even blink his tiny bird pokemon was sent directly towards the ground at speeds that didn't allow it to recuperate when Zephya rammed into it a glowing wing attack that had the full momentum of her Jet technique.

The spearow showed that it was made of sterner stuff as it tried to rose to its feet and beat its wings despite the hard hits that it had suffered. Zephya didn't let it as she sent a twister that was noticeably wider and stronger than the one she used during her battle against Misty's starmie. The purple tinted winds hid Gary's spearow from view but its pained caws could be clearly heard.

Zephya ended her twister they moment they cut off abruptly and Ash wasn't surprised when he saw an unconscious spearow that had quite the number of cuts all over its body and a nasty bruise was forming on its back where Zephya had hit it with her first attack. With a contemptuous turn of her head, Zephya flew back to where she had been before she had gone and utterly destroyed Gary's pokemon.

Speaking of the arrogant brown-haired grandson of Professor Oak, he had a dumfounded expression on his face as he returned his spearow in a flash of red energy. He gulped as he refused to look up at Ash and his freaky avian pokemon. By the time his brain rebooted after seeing it disappear, Ash's pidgeotto was already delivering its final attack against his downed spearow.

Gary shook his head before gritting his teeth. He quickly exchanged his pokeballs. He looked up at Ash to see that both him and his big ass bird were looking at him with unimpressed expression on their faces. Gary glared heatedly at them. "Don't you dare think you are better than me! Wartortle, crush them!" He shouted as he released the evolved form of his starter pokemon in a bright flash of white. "Ice beam and water pulse! Shoot that stupid bird out of the sky!"

"Don't get hit. Counter with air slash. Jet Wing again," said Ash simply.

With a loud and wet gurgling cry, Gary's wartortle opened its mouth and formed a sphere of whiteish blue energy right in front of it. From it, jagged beams of ice-type energy shot towards the airborne Zephya.

By the time they reached her, Zephya had already moved away and Ash didn't even blink when a block of ice that was about his own overall size fell in front of him after the ice beam was stopped by the psychic barriers and created said block of ice before the wartortle cut out the attack when it realized that it didn't connect.

The wartortle then formed a sphere of water and light blue energy that was just a bit smaller than the ones Misty's starmie created before it sent the water pulse towards Zephya's new position with high degree of accuracy. Zephya retaliated by giving an elegant twirl and lashing out towards the incoming water pulse with a glowing wing, from which a blade of air that was significantly bigger and stronger looking than the ones she produced during her battle at the Cerulean Gym.

When the two attacks collided, the water pulse was split in half and as the two halves exploded high in the air, a noticeably weaker and slower air slash continued on its path towards wartortle. The turtle pokemon gave a surprised yelp as it managed to successfully dodge Zephya's weakened attack by jumping away at the nick of time.

Before Gary could give another order or his wartortle could react effectively, a low flying Zephya appeared in front of him in a blur of speed and sent the turtle pokemon flying with a deep gurgle of pain after smacking it right in the middle of the underside of his shell. The psychic barriers flared to life as the wartortle smacked against them shell with a grunt before it fell to the ground.

Gary watched with baited breath and sighed in relief when his starter rose to his feet just with a bit of difficulty. "Water wheel!"

The turtle pokemon jumped surprisingly high into the air and withdrew its limbs, head and tail into its shell before it shell. Then, from the hole on its shell that was dedicated for its tail, a pressurized stream of water shot out that propelled the wartortle at high speeds towards Zephya. And it wasn't done there because it began to use rapidly spin while spewing high pressurized water from all the holes of its shell, forming a disc of water that lost none of its speed nor its trajectory.

Ash took a moment to admire the sheer ingenuity of that technique and admit that it would have been trouble some for any other of his pokemon to deal with. Unfortunately for Gary, he was facing a rising master of airborne speed and mobility in Zephya. "Twister and then air slash."

The pidgeotto with King's Nature had flown upwards to get away the moment the wartortle had begun to spin and by the time the flying disc of water passed through where she had been, Zephya had already sent a funnel of drilling purple tinted winds towards Gary's starter. The twister easily reached it and then it curved seemingly on its own to catch the spinning wartortle on upside of its shell, forcefully changing its trajectory, not only sending it in a direct collision course with the ground but also making the water form an outer layer of spinning water over the winds, making for an impressive sight.

The drill of draconic winds and water with Gary's wartortle as its tip reached the ground, kicking up a cloud of swirling dust that obscured most of the battlefield due to the strength it possessed, being a mix of a powerful twister and the wartortle's combination technique.

Eventually the dust settled down to reveal a clearly unconscious and bruised turtle pokemon lying face down in the middle of a small crater.

The referee raised his red flag. "Wartortle is unable to fight! Pidgeotto is the winner! The green trainer has lost his two pokemon! The red trainer wins!"

' _Ashy-boy beat my two pokemon with just one of his,'_ thought Gary as his wartortle's pokeball fell to the ground from his suddenly limp fingers.

"And Ash Ketchum does it again! Using his King's Natured pidgeotto he beat his fellow Pallet Town native and grandson of the famous Professor Oak, Gary Oak, and secures his place in the finals! Will he be the one to come out victorious today or will Paul Shinji, the ruthless rookie from Sinnoh, be the one to stop him?!"

Ash ignored the pale-faced and limp-armed Gary and the roars of Austin and the crowd as he returned Zephya in a bright flash of red light. "Amazing work as always, girl," he whispered to it, knowing that she would hear him and the pokeball wiggling a bit was his confirmation. "But we are still not done," he whispered as he turned away from the battlefield, the psychic walls shimmering out of existence as he walked away with his lips pulling back into a snarl Igneel would've been proud of. "Not just yet."

* * *

 **Nugget Bridge Tournament. Finals.**

Paul Shinji knew that when compared to most trainers his age that had around the same amount of time as an official trainer, he was clearly a cut above. Raised by his father to be a pragmatist and user of cold, hard logic over any other thing, it had not taken long for him to realize that he had a talent for tactics and strategies. Because of that, choosing the path of the pokemon trainer was obvious as far as he was concerned.

After reaching the appropriate age of thirteen and passing his PTLEs in with a perfect score and receiving his starter pokemon from Professor Rowan in Sinnoh, he had decided to come to the joint Kanto/Johto League to start his journey because of the two years he would have to complete the Kanto Gym Circuit as he built and trained a team of pokemon worthy enough to secure him a win on his first try.

Following his pragmatic nature and logical thinking, the first Gym that he challenged was the Saffron one after acquiring a murkrow. The abra and spoink she'd sent his way had been quite easy to deal with even if he had the distinct impression that Sabrina had not been all that approving of the battle. After getting his hands on a magby and an elekid, he had gone and challenged Erika at Celadon City, once again winning only using the latter.

That was when he learned about this tournament and he'd decided to come here and use everything he learned so far to secure the first of what he knew would be many accomplishments. After winning every single battle against all the trainers he'd faced so far, Paul knew that was the only logical conclusion. He had even managed to complete his team by snatching a rhyhorn on his way to Cerulean City and a krabby after he used his elekid and grotle, the evolved form of his grass-type starter turtwig.

He had entered the Nugget Bridge Tournament expecting to steam roll his way to first place but he had been surprised to see that there were three other trainers that were close to his level regarding tactics, strategies and the strength of their pokemon. It had not escaped his notice that the three of them were from Pallet Town.

Gary Oak, despite his annoying displays of arrogance, had shown that he was good tactician and that he had the ingenuity to come up with combination techniques that could be very troublesome to deal with. Considering that his grandfather was the world-renowned Professor Oak, it had not been surprising that with barely more than a month as a trainer he had the resources to reach such a level.

Leaf Green and her pokemon team seemed pretty unassuming, except for that ivysaur of hers, which he had deduced she had after seeing that the other two trainers from Pallet Town had a wartortle and a charmeleon. One of the very first things he learned when he arrived on Kanto was that every two years after the Indigo Conference, Professor Oak would sponsor the three trainers with the highest results on their PTLEs. With that information being of public access in the League Database, it had not been hard to find out that the three trainers from Pallet Town participating on this tournament were sponsored by Samuel Oak. And everyone knew about the fairly rare starters he gave out to his sponsored trainers.

Anyways, Leaf had proved to be very unpredictable with her obviously-on-the-fly tactics. Paul also noticed that she based the fighting style of her pokemon largely in the manner on how the would fight on the wild. Paul could respect that after seeing how effective it was even if he preferred to be the one in complete control of what his pokemon did. Trained pokemon were superior to wild pokemon in every way. By that logic, a pokemon that followed its trainers order to the letter was bound to win against a pokemon that was mostly left to its own devices.

And finally, Ash Ketchum. It annoyed Paul that he couldn't get a clear read on him. On his first fight he used his totodile in an unpredictable manner to quite easily beat that houndour. On his second fight he let out a vicious charmeleon that made short work of a doduo in less than two minutes. And on his third-round battle, with clear planning beforehand, he used his nidorino to beat that raticate without moving and using tactics that Paul would admit he himself would use.

And to make matters even more troubling on his semifinals battle against Gary Oak, Ash Ketchum released a bloody pidgeotto with King's Nature out of all things that defeated with almost contemptuous ease Gary Oak's spearow, that looked like it was only a few days away from evolving, and wartortle, that Paul had to could be capable of defeating his rhyhorn and magby without much trouble before he had to use his elekid or grotle to deal with it.

Needless to say, for the first time since the start of his journey, Paul was worried about a pokemon battle. While his totodile, charmeleon, nidorino were certainly strong and formidable fighters and his pidgeotto was outright terrifying with that speed and maneuverability, he still knew that he had the means to deal with them if it came to it. It was his yet-to-be-revealed fifth pokemon that was truly troubling him.

Sure, he might not have revealed his grotle, magby and murkrow yet but what where the odds of even one of those three being an effective counter to Ash's unknown pokemon? It had been laughably easy to prepare for Leaf. With his magby being capable of countering her ivysaur and spinarak and his elekid capable of countering her hoothoot and psyduck, the odds had been on his favor by a wide margin.

But now against Ash? He was pretty much guessing and the fact that he had to release his pokemon first didn't help matters at all.

As Paul stood on his trainer box ready for the final fight of this tournament looking at the blank-faced Ash who was staring back at him without blinking, he couldn't help the tiniest bit of dread that settled on the pit of his stomach. For a pragmatic strategist and planner like him, being forced to guess against an opponent he couldn't read was akin to facing his worst nightmare.

"Green trainer! Release your pokemon!"

At the behest of the referee, Paul promptly released the pokemon that his first solid choice. "Murkrow, standby for battle!"

Murkrow was an avian Pokémon with black feathers. Its crooked yellow beak and the three feathery tufts on its head resembled a witch's nose and hat respectively. The feathery crest indicated that this was a male one. It had semi-circular red eyes with white sclerae and pupils and a spiky collar of feathers around its neck. The shaggy feathers on its tail resembled the end of a broom and there was a thin red band at the base of the tail. Its yellow feet had four toes, three facing forward and one backward.

None of the pokemon Ash had shown so far were direct counters to it. In the case he released his pidgeotto or that his unknown pokemon was either rock or electric type, he was sure he could damage them enough for his elekid to deal with it. After that he was sure Ash would use his nidorino but elekid could attack from afar and deal with it. And finally, he would likely release his charmeleon to deal with elekid and he was sure his krabby could defeat it. Given the circumstances, that was the best he could come up with.

Those plans were immediately shot to hell when Ash released a fucking clefairy.

"For the love of all that is holy and legendary! Ash Ketchum has released a clefairy! Let it be known that these super rare pokemon only show themselves to those of pure and righteous of heart on the wild! And to this day it's unknown what it takes for one of them to allow a pokemon trainer to capture them! You, Ash Ketchum, are truly a shocking and remarkable young man!"

The utter silence after Austin's words was even more prominent than the one Zephya's was responsible for.

As he looked at the wide eyed and slightly pale Paul, Ash kept his blank expression in face as he pointed up with his index fingers before slowly bringing it down to point directly at Paul and his murkrow. As the psychic barriers shimmered into existence, he lowered his arm and watched as the uncharacteristically subdued and frowning Titania patiently waited for his instructions.

He knew that the reason why she wasn't giggling and waving at the crows was because before the fight he'd told her and the rest of his team what Paul had done to Forest, Leaf's ivysaur. There was also the fact she was likely put out by what she could 'feel' from him. While not exactly empaths, clefairy and clefable were so in tune with emotions that to put it simply, they were excellent judges of character.

Needless to say, none of his friends, Titania specially, were fans of Paul.

While Ash could grudgingly respect Paul's clear intelligence, talent for strategies and tactics and just sheer talent as a pokemon trainer, he abhorred the also extremely clear apathy he had for a pokemon's wellbeing. The unnecessarily cruel manner in which he had deal with Forest, after obviously luring Leaf into that planned trap, was proof enough of that. That was the reason why he had been so angry.

And he also made whom he considered his best friend cry. That was simply unacceptable.

Ash had managed to take control of his anger with some difficulty and decided to use it as fuel for his thinking during this fight. Paul's actions called for retaliation and Ash knew the perfect to go around doing that. Ash could clearly see that Paul had pride on himself and his abilities as a trainer. Thus, it was only logical that Ash targeted those points. He wasn't just going to beat him.

He was going to humiliate him and completely and utterly destroy him.

Paul furrowed his brows in concentration. He needed to be careful. None of murkrow's dark type attacks were going to effective against the clefairy. He would also need to avoid hit since not only were murkrow's defenses not the best but fairy-type attacks were super effective against dark-types. Thankfully, he still had some options to work with. "Shadow ball. Keep to the air and harass it from afar."

The murkrow gave a wicked caw before flapping his surprisingly long wings and taking to the air.

Ash watched with a critical eye as it opened its beak and formed in front of it a blackish purple sphere of ghostly energy. When he recognized the move that was being used, he decided to not call for Titania to dodge. "Counter with magical leaf."

The murkrow launched the shadow ball at the clefairy with deadly accuracy and speed. Titania however didn't look surprised nor frightful of the incoming attack as her wings glowed light green before she produced a dozen of magical leaves that she sent directly at the incoming sphere of ghost-type energy. The magical leaves disrupted the balance of the ghostly energies that made up the shadow ball and an explosion of blackish purple, light green and dark smoke was produced when they collided.

Before the smoke began to dissipate, Paul's murkrow was already sending another shadow ball from a completely different direction. Titania retaliated in the same manner as before and a new cloud of smoke was produced before the first one finished clearing.

It didn't take long for Paul to realize why the clefairy was easily keeping up with his fastest airborne pokemon. _'It's probably used to train against his pidgeotto, who's significantly faster than Murkrow. We'll have to risk getting in close somehow,'_ he thought before giving a new set of orders. "Quick ace!"

Ash heard Paul's words and watched the murkrow become a blur of black, yellow and white that he knew he and Titania could only follow because they were used to the speeds Zephya could reach. Still, he knew he only had a few moments to call for an effective counter and he didn't waste any time. "Confusing charm and rude awakening."

Titania's body was enveloped by an aura of rainbow-colored energy as she struck a pose. The blur that was Paul's murkrow stopped only a few feet away from here, looking unsure. Then, the rainbow aura coalesced in front of Titania into the shape of a heart that she sent towards the darkness pokemon with the motion of blowing a kiss. The heart struck murkrow before it could do anything and it suddenly began to frantically chirp and caw and flow in tight, random circles.

Paul's eyes widened.

Titania wasn't done, however. She opened her mouth and began to let out a beautifully sounding lullaby that was actually complimented by her high-pitched voice. It only took a few moments for the murkrow to fall asleep and roughly fall to the ground only a few feet away from Titania. Ash noticed that it's sleep was troubled, unlike the other times Titania had successfully used sing before.

' _Perhaps it was affected by its previous confused state. I'll have to keep that in mind,'_ thought Ash since this was actually the first time Titania had used the two combination techniques together. Confusing Charm was just Titania using Charm followed by Sweet Kiss. Rude Awakening was her using Sing to lull her opponent to sleep so she could-

SMACK!

-use the full potential of Wake-Up Slap. Murkrow was sent flying away with a cry of pain after it was, well, rudely awakened by Titania bitch slapping it right across the face with a glowing palm. Not only was the attack very effective because of the shock of being woken up by pain but Wake-Up Slap was a fighting-type move. As a flying-type that was also a dark-type, murkrow's body was particularly fragile. That translated to a lot of pain and a lot of damage in a single strike.

Ash knew however that it wouldn't be enough to do Paul's murkrow in and he was not about to let it recover. "Dazzling gleam."

"Get a hold of yourself, Murkrow!" Urged Paul but it was not to be. His murkrow was still affected by the confusion caused by Titania's sweet kiss.

With a solemn expression on her face, Titania held up a finger as her wings began to glow brightly with rainbow-colored fairy-type energy. On the tip of her finger fairy power began to gather in the form of a sphere. When it was roughly the size of a tennis ball, she aimed with it at her opponent who was rolling around and flapping its wings uselessly due to its confused state.

The dazzling gleam, a short beam of pure fairy-type energy since Titania had yet to master it otherwise it would have been a continuous one, was sent directly towards the murkrow with deadly accuracy and speed. When it hit a cloud of smoke and multicolored energy was produced. When it cleared and revealed an unconscious darkness pokemon, no one was surprised.

The referee raised his red flag. "Murkrow is unable to battle! Clefairy is the winner! Green trainer! Return your pokemon and release your next one!"

Paul clenched his jaw tightly at the ease at which his pokemon had been defeated. _'Those status effect moves caught me off guard. It won't happen again,'_ he thought coldly as he returned his murkrow and exchanged its pokeball for the one pokemon he possessed that had the highest chances of defeating Ash's clefairy. "Magby, standby for battle!" He released his life coal pokemon in a bright flash of white.

Magby was a bipedal pokemon that had a red body with a yellow flame-shaped marking on its stomach. Its head was covered with large lumps and it had a rounded yellow beak. There was a single spike on its back and it had a tapered tail. Its short arms had three clawed fingers while its feet had only two clawed toes. The magby glared heatedly at its opponents as it brandished its claws, their around it shimmering due to its body temperature of over one thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

' _Fire type moves are not super effective against fairy-types pokemon but their attacks aren't that effective against fire-types. If I can keep it from using its status effect moves, I'm pretty sure Magby can defeat the clefairy without too much effort. Then, he would surely use his totodile to defeat Magby. After which I would release Elekid as my final pokemon and easily defeat his totodile. After which, none of his remaining pokemon would be able to counter Elekid and-!'_

Paul's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a declaration from the referee.

"Th-the red trainer forfeits his clefairy! Magby wins! Red trainer! Release your next pokemon!"

Paul was sure that he wasn't the only one looking at Ash in shock after he returned his perfectly healthy pokemon. He watched as Ash whispered something to be pokeball of his clefairy before he put it back on his belt and exchanged it for another one without looking away from him. He was not surprised when he released his totodile.

His eyebrow did twitch in irritation when Ash pointed up this time with his index and middle fingers before slowly bringing them down to point at him. Paul finally realized what he was doing. _'He's fucking counting! What is he playing at? Doesn't matter. If he wants to make things easier for me, I won't complain,'_ he thought before calling his orders. "Flame burst!"

The magby reared its head back before sending a burst of fire towards the big jaw pokemon.

Ash looked at it unimpressed. Igneel's was stronger by far. "Water gun. Get ready to use aqua jet."

Abzu countered the magby's flame burst with a pressurized stream of water from his opened great jaw. The two attacks collided and with a hissing sound thick steam covered both sides of the battlefield as the result.

That was what Paul was counting on. "Fire feint!" He knew that the only reason Ash's totodile had been able to deal with the houndour was because it had been able to see it coming out of feint attack and react. That wouldn't be the case with this amount of steam and its thickness. Not only that, but Magby was easily faster and stronger than that houndour.

' _How predictable,'_ thought Ash almost in derision. "Do it, Abzu. Follow it with water gun to finish it."

With a grin and a grunt of acknowledgement, Abzu enveloped himself in the aura of water that signified the initial state of aqua jet. Not a moment later the magby appeared in front of Abzu in a warping of darkness with its two arms engulfed in flames. It was surprised when its twin fire punches were stopped by a veritable wall of water, steam hissing from the point of contact.

Abzu's grin as he locked eyes with a suddenly nervous magby was the definition of savagery.

As the steam began to clear out, Paul was surprised yet again when he heard the pained sound that could only belong to his magby. ' _What?!'_ He thought in shock when he saw Ash's totodile, engulfed in the swirling water drill that was aqua jet, pushing a screaming magby towards the middle of the battlefield, steam trailing behind them as it originated from the point of contact of the two flying pokemon.

Paul watched as magby continued flying even after the totodile ended the aqua jet and it only stopped when it hit the boundaries set by the psychic barriers, smacking against them quite painfully. Before he could say anything or even magby fell back to the ground, a pressurized steam of water hit the live coal pokemon right in the chest, making it give a gurgling cry of agony, the psychic barriers flaring continuously to life as the magby was kept pressed against them by the strength of the small blue croc's water gun.

Abzu kept it up until its screams cut out due to passing out because after it couldn't take more of the super effective attack.

The referee raised his red flag again. "Magby is unable to battle! Totodile wins! Green trainer! Release your next pokemon!"

' _He predicted I would improve on the strategy his first opponent used against it and prepared accordingly for it,'_ thought Paul with disbelief as he returned his magby and exchanged its pokeball for the one holding his only logical choice."Elekid, standby for battle!"

Elekid was a yellow, round-bodied pokémon with black stripes. Its arms were bulky in proportion to its body and it had three claws instead of fingers. It had two stripes on its arms which wrapped all the way around. There were two horns on top of its head which resembled the prongs of a plug, complete with holes in their sides. It had a black lightning bolt marking on its chest. Two rows of stripes were near the end of the marking with the pattern continuing around its lower back. Its legs were black and its feet were rounded and toeless.

' _Elekid is the only obvious choice. It can deal with that totodile easily and none of his other pokemon are direct counters to it. As a matter of fact, his next pokemon after Elekid wins is going to be either his charmeleon or nidorino since he knows that-!"_ Paul stopped his thought's abruptly as he realized what just happened. His eyes widened as his suddenly breath left him. _'… did he just force me to use a pokemon he knew about after I used two of the three he didn't know about?! This guy…'_

Thus, Paul wasn't really surprised when he returned his totodile.

Despite not expecting it, the referee handled Ash's actions better this time. "… the red trainer forfeits his totodile! Elekid wins! Red trainer! Release your next pokemon!"

Nor was the Sinnoh native surprised when Ash's charmeleon made its appearance in a bright flash of white.

Igneel flexed the wiry muscles of its long arms and his wicked long and sharp claws as he reared his head back and roared his arrival on the battlefield to the heavens. The flame of his tail flared brightly as he focused his furious glare on both Paul and his elekid as he snarled ferociously, flames flickering from the corners of his mouth.

As he raised his hand and pointed up with his index, middle and ring finger extended, he vindictively enjoyed the look troubled look on Paul's pale face and unsure expression that marred the previously cocky electric pokemon. _'Have you realized it yet, Paul Shinji?'_ He thought as he brought down his hand to point at both trainer and pokemon.

' _Have you realized that you already lost?'_

Paul's jaw clenched as his eyes narrowed in anger when he saw Ash do that again. "Stop looking down on me! Elekid! Swift and shock wave!"

Ash merely shook his head. "Edgeclaw to counter both attacks. Then dragon breath."

A high-pitched sound of static came from the mouth of the elekid as its arms glowed white. It lashed out with them towards Igneel and produced dozens of golden white stars that flew directly towards Igneel with deadly accuracy.

Snorting black smoke from his nose and growling, Igneel's eyes narrowed as his claws glowed a bright, metallic white until they were almost five times longer and ten times sharper. With a roar, Igneel began to use his enhanced claws to destroy all the energy stars that came at him, small cloud of white smoke produced with each destroyed star.

Just after he successfully destroyed all the stars, he heard the crackling sound of electricity and he looked up to see a thin beam of vertically zigzagging blue lightning coming directly towards him. Having already faced several electric types in the past, Igneel knew what to do in order deal with their electrical attacks. He shoved his claws into the ground just as the lightning reached him.

Igneel barely grunted in discomfort as he directed the electricity to the ground without an ounce of significant damage being done to him. When he no longer felt the tingling of electricity coursing through him, Igneel pulled out his claws from the ground and opened his maw after taking a deep breath and a beam of purple draconic energy was sent directly towards Paul's elekid.

"Light screen!" Paul shouted a bit frantically when he saw that his elekid wasn't going to be able to move on time.

The electric pokemon grunted as it raised its arms and held them extended in front of it with its three short claws extended and facing towards the incoming dragon breath. A rectangular, shimmering blue wall of psychic-type energy appeared in front of the elekid just as the purple beam of draconic energy reached it. There was a loud explosion and a cloud of black smoke obscured Paul's elekid from view.

The rookie trainer from Sinnoh clicked his tongue in annoyance. ' _He can counter all of his Elekid's ranged options and after seeing that dragon breath I know we are actually at a disadvantage at long range. Those claws are dangerous but our best chance now would be to get in close,'_ he thought quickly before speaking his next orders aloud. "Thunder rush!"

Ash watched as the elekid came out of still dispersing cloud of smoke, it's body enveloped with the enhancement of quick attack and its arms crackling with electricity. _'It's actually a bit faster. However…'_

The flame pokemon roared as he brought his enhanced claws forward and met the elekid's attack head on. A small shockwave was produced from the point of contact and arcs of lightning flared out as well. The elekid gritted its teeth as it tried to push Igneel back and the charmeleon merely grunted in discomfort at the slight shocks he was getting. Elekid lashed out with his other arm only for Igneel to counter that strike as well.

'… _Igneel fights and wins against faster every single day!'_ thought Ash with a smirk as he watched the deadly dance of enhanced claws and electricity that begun between his starter and Paul's elekid.

Paul watched in disbelief as Ash's charmeleon, despite being significantly slower, was matching his elekid blow for blow without any outwards show of difficulty other than the occasional twitch of its eye whenever a stray arc of lighting hit it. It only took Paul a moment to determine why. _'Like the clefairy, it's used to fighting his pidgeotto! It also has the reach and strength advantage. That means-!'_

' _Time to wrap this up,'_ thought Ash as he decided that Igneel had enjoyed himself enough. "Scorchbite. Bring it down and finish it with dragon breath."

Igneel gave a reptilian grin of glee as his right claw met with the elekid's right thunder punch. He easily ignored the light shocks from the arcs of lighting that hit his arm. With a snarl, flames and darkness engulfed Igneel's teeth as he used the combination technique of fire fang and crunch. Instead of countering elekid's left thunder punch with his left enhanced claw, Igneel leaned back a bit and caught it with his maw closing it around it. The fire and dark-type energy protected him from the direct contact with the elekid's thunder punch.

The electric pokemon made a high-pitched whirring sound of agony as Igneel clenched his jaw around its forearm before it was grabbed around its midsection and roughly forced to the ground. The respite it felt when Igneel released its forearms from the painful grip of his maw was short lived because not a moment later its eyes widened in horror when Igneel leaned forward and delivered a beam of purple draconic energy point blank, producing a cloud of black smoke that obscured their forms.

When the smoke cleared, it was to show a victoriously roaring Igneel flexing his muscles and claws as his tail flame flaring brightly. His right foot was placed on top of the clearly unconscious elekid's chest in a display of dominance.

"Elekid is unable to battle! Charmeleon is the winner! The green trainer has lost his three pokemon! The red trainer wins!" Declared the referee as he raised his red flag.

"He did it! Ash Ketchum is the winner! Without a single one of his pokemon being defeated throughout the entire event, Ash Ketchum has won the first ever Nugget Bridge Tournament!" Roared Austin into his microphone as he shot to his feet in his excitement.

A thunderous roar came from the crowd as they also jumped to their feet and began to cheer and chant Ash's name.

Paul could only stare in numb shock as the psychic barriers shimmered out of existence and Ash returned his charmeleon, seemingly ignoring the reaction of the crowd as he continued to stare blankly at him. It was in that moment that Paul understood a very harsh truth.

There existed a rookie trainer his age that was already stronger than him.

There existed a rookie trainer his age that was clearly more intelligent than him.

There existed a rookie trainer his age that was a better strategist and tactician than him.

There existed a rookie trainer his age that in a way was even more ruthless than him.

There existed a rookie trainer his age that was simply better than him.

And his name was Ash Ketchum.

* * *

 **And that's a fucking wrap!**

 **Bloody hell! Can someone point me out the asshole that told me that it would be a good idea to write a 29k monstrosity of a chapter in less than four days? What? I did it all by myself because I am a masochist that wanted to apologize for his long hiatus?**

 **Oh. Okay. Never mind then.**

 **For real though, not only is this my longest chapter to date but it's the fastest I've ever written. My sheer awesomeness is amazing to even myself.**

 **I'm going to be honest, today I was supposed to update AHWA but the muse wants, what the muse wants. After two hours writing and deleting the same scene over and over again while working on AHWA, I gave up on that and began to write for Pinnacle in order to do something productive.**

 **Guess I did a bit more than that, huh?**

 **For the sake of our collective sanities let's just keep in mind that I, the self-claimed devourer of muffins, shall update stories without a clear schedule and on a whim. It might happen in a week, in might happen in a month, but rest assured that it will happen.**

 **In regards of this chapter…**

 **Before anyone complains, no. The Waterflower sisters are not sluts. They just like to tease boys they find cute and Ash most certainly fits in that category. And yes, it's obvious that Misty has a crush on Ash. Will something come out of that? Who knows? You'll have to read to find out.**

 **Now, be honest with me here. Who thought that Ash was going to get a totodile from the sisters? I've seen Ash getting pokemon from literally all gym leaders except from them. When I was planning the story, I was debating between totodile and mudkip but the former won after I remembered that swampert was a ground type and Rexus is going to eventually become a nidoking so I thought it would be redundant.**

 **Fun fact: If I had chosen mudkip, Ash's third pokemon would have been a scyther and the mudkip's name would have been Poseidon, you know, god of the seas and the earthshaker as well. Fitting for a swampert. But I really wanted a nidoking on Ash's team, both because it's one of my favorite pokemon and I because I wanted to pay homage to The Straight Elf's 'Traveler' somehow. Hence, Totodile. He was going to be named Sobek at first to pay homage to darkfire1220's 'Challenger' but after reading about Abzu, the god of all fresh water and father of all gods, I couldn't not use it, you know?**

 **Another thing. Do you guys think I did a good job to show that while Ash is even better than above average rookie trainers, he's not the only one that can think of effective combination techniques? That the reason he keeps winning is more because of his intelligence and knowledge than the strength of his pokemon and the moves and techniques they know, even though that obviously play a significant part? I certainly hope so.**

 **I also wanted to show that Tournaments have more relative worth than gym battles and even more so than trainer's battles on the road. Since the ranking points you earn here are permanent, unlike for example the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) where you have to keep winning the tournaments to keep the ranking points you earn, that will explain how the best trainers can reach the higher ranks after you see how much ranking points are needed.**

 **What do you think of Leaf? What do you think of Gary? What do you think of Paul? This story is certainly about Ash but you can say that those three will play kind of important roles moving forward, some more than others, hehe.**

 **That's all for now if I'm not mistaken.**

 **If my next update is for Pinnacle, the next chapter will include the rest of what happens at Cerulean City, more character interactions and world building, team bonding moments, the road to Vermillion City and the Vermillion City Gym battle. Do expect another big ass chapter as the next update.**

 **Muffin out!**


	6. The Vermillion Road

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is part of the Pokémon franchise. The rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. I shall only use elements from the franchise on this piece of fan fiction for non-lucrative purposes. Make sure to read the A/N at the end of the chapter and do not go to my profile before reading the chapter to avoid spoilers! You have been warned!**

* * *

 **This is the Reviews' Answer Corner. I will take some of the reviews you posted on the previous chapter and answer them.**

 **Because of the amount of time between updates, the Reviews' Answer Corner will make its come back on chapter seven. As a matter of fact, should I even bother with this? Give me your answer in the reviews section.**

* * *

 **Oh. In case you forgot, which is the most likely scenario…**

 **Igneel – Charmeleon**

 **Zephya – Pidgeotto**

 **Rexus – Nidorino**

 **Titania – Clefairy**

 **Abzu – Totodile**

 **Alright, now, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six: The Road to Vermillion**

* * *

After the award ceremony ended and everyone left the Nugget Bridge Arena, Ash found himself approaching the namesake of the premises that had seen his first truly major and public victory as a pokemon trainer. With the event having started not too long after lunch and having lasted almost five hours, the sun was almost completely set over the horizon as twilight made its presence known.

The gold nuggets that adorned the railings and gave name to the bridge he was only a few dozen yards away from reaching glinted with different orange and purple hues as they reflected the light of the setting sun and the darkening sky.

After the anger Ash felt towards Paul Shinji left him when he delivered a well-deserved retribution, pure elation and satisfaction had been the most prominent emotions left within him. There was also a healthy dose of worry for Leaf and her ivysaur but Ash had been unable to go in search of his best friend because he had been immediately dragged away by the eager and gleeful reporters for interviews.

For almost thirty minutes, Ash had tried his best to not make a fool out of himself as he answered all the questions sent his way. He honestly wasn't sure whether or not he had been successful on that endeavor.

After the interviews the award ceremony was next and that was when Ash had finally a chance to speak with a visibly subdued but no-longer-crying Leaf, albeit briefly. When he asked her about Forest, her ivysaur, he had been relieved to hear that its injuries had looked worse than what they had actually been. Leaf's starter was still going to take a few days before he was completely healed though.

He'd only had time for that before he, Paul, Leaf and Gary had been directed towards a podium to receive their rewards. As the first-place winner of a minor tournament, Ash had been given a gold medal that had the symbol of League engraved on one side and the words 'Nugget Bridge Tournament' on the other. Paul had been given a silver medal as the runner-up and Gary and Leaf were given a bronze medal each for reaching the semifinals.

Throughout it all, Ash had noticed that even though Paul had appeared mostly stoic, he had caught the occasional glances, tightened fists and clenched jaws that were the telltales of Paul's real emotions. Gary had just glared at him heatedly with a red face. And Leaf, even though she had been clearly worried about her pokemon, had smiled genuinely at him and clapped along with the crowd and the other competitors that had stayed to watch the whole thing.

Ash had easily shrugged off the first two. It wasn't his problem that Gary got mad over him beating what likely had to be his two strongest pokemon with just Zephya and it also wasn't his problem that Paul got what was coming to him due to being a cruel asshole with his tactics.

He had returned Leaf's smile with a grin of his own.

After the award ceremony was done and as the spectators had begun to vacate the premises, Leaf had told him she wanted to meet 'in private' with him tomorrow. Not knowing what it was about nor having a reason to refuse her, he had told her about the spot he had spent the previous five days training his pokemon and how to get there. After telling him she would be there at around mid-morning and thanking him, she'd bid him a hasty goodbye before hurrying out of there, likely because she'd wanted to go back to her injured pokemon as soon as possible.

Ash could understand that. If any of his pokemon had even been remotely close to that level of injured he also wouldn't want to leave their side.

"Don't think just because you lost to the same guy in the finals that I did on the semifinals that you are better than me, asshole!"

"…Idiot. I didn't even speak to you."

"You were looking down on me! I saw it! And who the hell are you calling an idiot, huh?! Do you know who I am?!"

"…"

"Stop ignoring me, dammit!"

Ash paused, blinked twice in bewilderment and stared at the utterly ridiculous scene that was happening right in the middle of the Nugget Bridge. Gary looked like was doing his best impersonation of an angry primeape and looked ready to start spewing flames from all of his facial orifices while a visibly annoyed Paul was trying and somewhat succeeding on remaining stoic.

It was the Sinnoh native that noticed him first.

Paul's eyes narrowed. "Ketchum…"

Gary's head sharply turned towards where Paul was looking and he growled when he saw Ash there. Seeing the gold medal hanging off his neck only reminded him of his humiliating lost against someone he always thought was beneath him. While he knew that Ash overall potential as a trainer was above average, for his grandfather's sponsorship demanded no less, he still thought that he was the better of the two.

Today he had seen that it was not the case. Still, he refused to accept that a no name like-

"Currently, you are better than me and your pokemon are stronger than mine."

While Gary turned towards Paul with wide eyes, Ash merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"I think that was left pretty clear earlier," said Ash with a shrug of his shoulders after a moment. While he no longer felt the intense anger towards him, that didn't mean that he was suddenly going to like Paul and become friends with him just because he stated the obvious. Truthfully, unless Paul showed him that he was different than what his actions today indicated, Ash doubted he would ever get along with him.

Other than a clenched jaw and a twitching eyebrow, Paul didn't show any reaction Ash's words. "We are going to meet again. And when that happens, I will be the better trainer with the stronger pokemon."

"You do know that I will continue to get stronger and better as well, right?" Ash asked him with genuine curiosity as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. It seemed like him defeating Paul so soundly only ignited the fires of rivalry within him.

Paul shook his head as he uncrossed his arms and imitated Ash's actions by shoving his own hands into the pockets of his pants. "It doesn't matter. Next time we face each other, whether it's another tournament or a random encounter on the road, I'm going to be the winner."

Ash gave him an even look and inclined his head slightly. "You are welcome to try."

With another twitch that betrayed his inner annoyance and irritation, Paul scoffed before turning around and started to make his way towards Cerulean City. Gary growled and glared after him when Paul didn't even spare him a second glance.

Ash sighed tiredly. "Do you want to say something to me too, Gary?" He asked him. He just wanted to go back to his room at the Pokémon Center, release his friends from their pokeballs, congratulate them properly for achieving their first major win and then pass out for at least ten hours. He was fatigued, both mentally and physically, and he just wanted to get this over with.

Gary turned towards him and his expression wasn't his usual smug one. Ash could only see anger and resentment on his face. "Don't you think that just because you got lucky with that freak bird of yours that you are better than me, ya hear me?!"

Other than the slight annoyance he felt at Gary calling Zephya a 'freak bird', Ash was merely unimpressed by this and his expression bared it all to Gary. "Mhm. Got it. Is that all?"

Gary gnashed his teeth together at utterly uncaring response he got. He pointed dramatically at Ash. "Today you just caught me off guard! Next time we meet, I'll show everyone that you aren't better than me! I'll teach you not to look down on me! Next time It'll be me that wins with only just one pokemon, ya hear me?!" He shouted before not giving Ash a chance to actually respond as he turned away and ran towards the city.

Ash watched him go with a flat expression for a few moments before giving a tired sigh and looking up to the darkening sky. He didn't know why but he had the feeling that by winning against them in the manner that he did only resulted in Paul probably becoming worse than what he already was and Gary becoming even more annoying.

After a few moments he shrugged his shoulders and began to make his own way towards Cerulean. That just meant that he was going to keep beating them until both Paul and Gary realized the futility of their actions as they continued to go forward. By this point Ash had a one hundred and thirty-six winning streak and he planned to keep it like that for as long as he could.

Besides, there was no way in hell that the first time he ever lost would be to the likes of Gary or Paul.

* * *

It was around nine in the morning of the next day and Ash was sitting on the shore of the small pond that had been witness to his own training and that of his pokemon for the Nugget Bridge Tournament. He was wearing black shorts, a plain red shirt and he had taken off his sandals so he could put his feet in the cool, soothing water of the natural pool. He was basking in the tranquility of nature as he waited for Leaf to arrive.

He had released his pokemon the moment he arrived earlier. After there being essentially no true amount of relaxation since leaving Pewter City and then going on to not only win their second major badge but also their first ever tournament, Ash felt that they deserved at the very least two full days of just doing nothing before going back at it. That would give him enough time to make a decision on whether to go to Celadon City or Vermillion City next.

Ash heard a purr coming from his lap and he looked down at his starter. Igneel was sprawled face down on the grassy floor next to him with his head on his lap and all his limbs laid limply on the ground. If it weren't for his currently half-lidded eyes, lazily wagging flaming tail and the occasional pleasured purrs he would release due to him scratching the 'spots', Ash would have confused him for a pile of flaming dark red goo. He was sure many of the spectators and trainers from yesterday would be extremely surprised to see the ferocious and dominant charmeleon in his current state.

A shift from his other side made him take off his attention from Igneel and towards Rexus, who had moved from his spot of laying at his side so he could lean forward and drink from the clear water of the pond. Even though he was clearly relaxed, his still oversized ears would occasionally twitch as they caught the sound of this and that. With a smile, Ash fondly thought that Rexus would never stop being the tiniest bit paranoid.

He heard some splashing from the pond and he looked first towards the shallowest part of it only to withhold a snort of amusement. Zephya was currently using the water to clean herself while Titania was helping her. The reason why he was amused rather than just extremely glad and happy that two of his pokemon seemed to become the best of friends, was because every now and then Zephya had to chirp sharply at Titania because she would accidentally pull too hard on her feathers since she would get distracted by what was happening at the center of the pond.

And Titania's distraction was caused by Abzu, who was playing a game of tag with a poliwag, a wooper and an azurill. This time Ash couldn't contain his snort, which got him brief looks from Igneel and Rexus. Abzu had been just tagged and the gleeful small blue croc was chasing the other three pokemon, who suddenly looked frantic and a bit fearful since it seemed like Abzu wanted to tag them with his teeth.

Honestly, Ash cherished and loved moment like this with his pokemon the most. _'Maybe it's because we spend most of our time training and battling. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. The more we work and the more we push ourselves make moments like this more enjoyable. Maybe even something to look forward to after each of our short-term goals are accomplished,'_ he thought to himself in retrospection.

Delia had taught Ash that while it was good to have long-term goals, the best way to go about reaching them was to set short-term ones that eventually built uptowards accomplishing your biggest dream. And for Ash that was becoming the best Pokemon Trainer in the world and for the entire world to recognize it. That meant becoming even better and stronger than the current Champions of all the world regions.

Realistically, Ash knew that it would be years before he got good and strong enough to even begin contemplating seriously challenging the Regional Champions and their Elite Four. Ash wasn't stupid nor was he impatient. Early on he had been taught by both Professor Oak and his mother that good things came to those who waited and bid their time as they focused on growing at their own pace. That lesson was the main reason why Ash was taking his time with traveling and training his pokemon.

If yesterday's tournament was anything to go by then doing so was most certainly paying off.

Anyways, Ash's longest-term realistic goal was completing the Kanto Gym Circuit and reaching as far as he could in the Indigo Conference that was going to happen in a bit more than twenty months from now. Ash knew that even with almost two years of training and experience under his belt the chances of him actually winning a Regional League Tournament such as the Indigo Conference on his first ever try were basically nonexistent.

A Regional League Tournament was the biggest event of each region and it gathered the best pokemon trainers from all over the world to not only test their mettle against each other but to also earn the chance to eventually challenge the members of the Elite Four to an all out six-on-six battle for their spot. And let it be said, that in more than a decade, since the retirement of the Phantom Mistress, Agatha Lovecraft, and Lance Wataru's ascension to Champion and the joining of the Kanto and Johto regions, no one has managed to go past the first Elite: The Lady of Darkness, Karen Umbra.

However, like how it was with the Waterflower Sisters, instead of discouraging him and serving as a deterrent, the knowledge of the challenges he would have to face and overcome in order to accomplish his dream was merely fuel for his determination.

' _One day the whole world will know my name,'_ he thought to himself with conviction. _'I just have to start small. First, the badges of all the major gyms in Kanto. Then, the Indigo Conference. After that…'_

That was when his moment of introspection was cut off as Rexus ears suddenly gave a particularly sharp twitch and his entire body tensed before he stood up and faced south, bristling as his barbs and spine prepared to start secreting poison. Igneel gave a growl before he also shot to his feet and got ready to scare off anyone that dared to bother them.

Knowing who it likely was, Ash stayed calm as he twisted his body a bit and faced towards the direction his two most protective friends also faced. When he saw a familiar pretty face framed by brown hair covered by a white hat, he smiled as he patted Igneel on the shoulder and Rexus on the part of his flank where he didn't have poisonous glands. "Calm down, guys. That's Leaf, a friend. Play nice."

Igneel and Rexus immediately calmed down at his words and even moved away a bit to allow Leaf to approach him. They stayed close though and didn't take their slightly wary eyes away from her.

The moment she stood merely a few feet away from him she gave a smile as she eyed both Igneel and Rexus first and then the rest of his pokemon. Ash followed her gaze and he noticed that Zephya was looking directly at them without blinking and Titania was also looking their way but with a cute expression of curiosity that was enhanced by the fact that most of her body was tilted to one side. And finally, having stopped playing, the only part that could only be seen of Abzu were his eyes and snout as the rest was submerged underwater. His playmates were looking at him in confusion, likely due to his sudden change in attitude.

Leaf grinned down at him. "Your pokemon are very loyal to you. Even your totodile, which I know you got less than a week ago."

Ash snorted and shook his head fondly. "Overprotective bunch, that's what they are," he said and rolled his eyes when both Igneel and Rexus made sounds of disapproval and denial. He caught Zephya making her equivalent of a huff before she looked away. A sharp chirp later and Titania was back to happily cleaning off her feathers individually. Since Titania had been the one to offer her help, Ash wasn't worried about it being bullying from Zephya to the fairy pokemon. Zephya wasn't the type and Ash felt that despite her happy-go-lucky personality, Titania wouldn't put up with something like that.

Leaf chuckled as she watched Abzu return back to his game of tag. "I actually find that to be kind of cute. My pokemon are just like that," she said before perking up a bit and turning towards him. "Do you think your team would mind if I released my pokemon? I don't want them to be cupped up inside their pokeballs when I am outside like this," she spoke to him with a slightly hopeful tone.

Ash smile and shook his head. "Nope. Go ahead. They won't mind," he said before adopting a pondering expression. "Though Titania might try to force them into becoming friends and play with her and Igneel might try to goad one of them into a fight just for the hell of it," he warned her with an amused expression. His lips twitched when Rexus huffed and walked back to his right to lay down again.

She looked towards the charmeleon and stifled a laugh at the interested look he was giving her five pokeballs now. "I think Silk won't mind your clefairy that much. And I got a feeling that your charmeleon and Chuck will get along just fine," she said dryly before chuckling as she reached for her pokeballs. "Oh, well. Come out everyone!"

Five flashes of bright white light later and her ivysaur, mankey, spinarak, hoothoot and psyduck appeared. The first thing Ash noticed were the lighter patches on the ivysaur's hide that indicated that his burns had been healed but those zones had yet to acquire their previous level of toughness. Other than that, her four other pokemon didn't show the signs of the battles they had yesterday, even if he knew some of them had taken a few solid hits.

Leaf smiled brightly at them as she clipped her pokeballs back to the magnets of her trainer belt. "Alright everyone. We'll be taking it easy today and Ash and his friends here will keep us company," she said and motioned towards the other pokemon around her. "Make sure to behave yourselves and be friendly… I'm talking to you, Chuck," she finished at the end by leveling her mankey with a stern gaze.

The pig monkey pokemon merely snorted. A deeper snort was then heard and both Ash and Leaf watched with exasperation as Igneel began to goad Chuck with a reptilian smirk and challenging eyes. The mankey responded with a huff as he began to flex. A few taunting growls and snarls and aggravated chuffs and screeches later and the charmeleon and mankey began to walk away, their intentions to duck it out with one another very clear to everyone.

More than one set of eyes were rolled when they saw that.

"Why am I Not surprised?" rhetorically asked Ash in a sarcastic manner as he watched the rest of Leaf's pokemon go on about doing their thing. The hoothoot, Owly, flapped his short wings and flew towards where Zephya and Titania were and began to wash himself as well. Zephya merely glanced at him as Titania gave an enthusiastic greeting, which Owly replied by blinking slowly and not looking away from them even as he continued the process of cleaning himself.

"You know? Something tells me that despite going off to fight, those two are going to get along the best out of all of our pokemon," she said with amusement as she watched Donny, her psyduck, hop into the water and swim towards were Abzu and the other water-type pokemon were back playing tag. Her lips twitched upwards when Donny was accepted by the others and began to quack merrily as he chased them.

"I just hope Igneel takes it easy. Today is supposed to be a day off," he said and watched in interest as Silk, Leaf's spinarak, skittered towards Rexus, whose ears twitched before turning in the direction of the spider, and chittered softly but excitedly at him. Rexus responded with a few grunts and chuffs of his own.

Ash blinked and turned away from the apparent conversation between the poison types when Leaf sat down next him on his left side and submerged her own feet in the water after having removing her sneakers, socks and hat. Forest carefully walked until he stood next to his trainer and with a bit of a grimace laid down himself carefully on Leaf's left.

"He should be back to one hundred percent in two or three days," explained Leaf when she noticed the look Ash was giving her starter. She smiled at him when his eyes flickered towards her. "Thanks for worrying about him," she told him softly as she reached towards the ivysaur and lightly rubbed the spots that weren't injured. That resulted in Forest making a few sounds of contentment as he closed his eyes.

Ash shook his head a bit as he leaned back, supporting his weight with his arms. "No problem," he said and after a short pause he smiled a bit sheepishly. "Reflecting on it a bit, I think I went overboard yesterday. Sure, Paul is an asshole that could have won without doing what he did, even the crowd from yesterday didn't take long to realize that thought I think their reaction was more because of his attitude than his methods, but…" he trailed off, not knowing how to explain what he was thinking without coming off as an insensitive moron.

Leaf's lips twitched upwards as she regarded him with some amusement. "… a battle is a battle, right?" She said wryly and chuckled while shaking her head when Ash nodded a bit guiltily at her. "I know that, Ash. To tell you the truth, even though I'm glad you demolished him, I wasn't even that mad at Paul. Like you said, he is an asshole and I doubt I would ever get along with him in the future, but his tactic was a solid one that I can even see the two of us using," she admitted to him.

After a moment of reflection, Ash nodded his head in agreement. The two of them were well aware that if it had come to it, Ash wouldn't have hesitated a second to use Igneel against Forest, which essentially, was the same as Paul using a fiery explosion to deal with the ivysaur. However…

"I know… I know. It wasn't him using that tactic that got me mad," said Ash with a frown as he looked at the pokemon enjoying their time inside the pond. Rexus and Silk, the spinarak, were amiably conversing and he could her the faint sounds of combat coming from where Igneel and Chuck, the mankey, had disappeared to. "It's just that I can kind of tell that he only sees pokemon as tools and means to an end. He doesn't see in them intelligent creatures with feelings and dreams of their own. Heck, I can go as far to say that there was some maliciousness in what he did to your ivysaur yesterday."

Leaf nodded at him in easy agreement. "I know. To be honest, after yesterday, I don't know whose teeth I want to kick in more from Paul or Gary," she told him with a nasty grin and the two of them shared a laugh at that. After a moment Leaf sobered up and looked at him in the eye. "Can I ask you something and you promise to answer me as honestly as you can?"

Ash straightened up at bit and nodded at her without breaking eye contact. "Of course. Go ahead."

"Am I a bad trainer?"

Ash almost physically stopped himself from giving an immediate answer since he knew that Leaf wanted a serious and honest answer from him. Even though his answer wouldn't have changed, he took a few moments to carefully choose his words. Eventually, he shook his head in the negative. "No. I don't think you are a bad trainer at all, Leaf. Quite the contrary actually. You managed to reach the semifinals yesterday without losing a single pokemon. Honestly speaking, had I faced Paul on the semifinals and you Gary, the final would have been between you and me without a doubt."

Ash paused and then gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "However, I don't think I'm the best person to ask that. I have the same amount of time as a trainer as you so…"

Leaf sighed, looking like a small weight had been taken off her shoulder, and smiled prettily at him. "I know that but I still wanted to know what you thought. It matched almost perfectly what my parents and Professor Oak told me when I asked them yesterday after the tournament," she admitted to him before looking down at her ivysaur as she continued to rub the spots that haven't been injured on his hide. "Do you think you can help me improve?" She asked him with a voice that was a bit small and held and undertone of nervousness.

Ash blinked and tilted his head to the side as regarded her with a confused expression on his face. "Um, I think you need to be a bit more specific with that, Leaf…"

She took a deep breath before turning towards him and looking at him with a mildly flushed face. "Can I travel with you for some time?" When she saw Ash's eyebrows rise into his hairline, her blush increased in intensity as she became a bit frantic. "It's not like I want to spy on you or anything to get an advantage or whatever!"

"Leaf."

"I'd just like some training tips and learn something from watching you battle, that's all!"

"Leaf…"

"And I think that taking my time just like you would be beneficial because-"

"Leaf!"

She paused mid-rambling with her face now almost resembling a tomato and blinked in surprise when she saw Ash's face with an expression of amusement as he chuckled. Immediately knowing that it meant his acceptance of her request and that he found her flustered state adorable, Leaf did the mature thing and stuck out her tongue at him, pouted petulantly and looked away from him with huff as she crossed her arms.

Ash shook his head fondly. "I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow. Me team and I will be taking two days off after the constant traveling, training and battling we have done since leaving Pewter City. Tomorrow I'll be going to the Cerulean PokéMart to get my TMs and restock on supplies. Wanna come?"

After a long moment, without turning to look at him, Leaf nodded her head. "… Okay." Despite behaving as if she was annoyed with him, which she kind of was, Leaf had a massive grin on her face that made her pink cheeks ache a bit as she resisted the urge to wrap her best friend in a full body hug and smooch him to death. The thought only made her feel even more embarrassed though it didn't stop her fantasizing.

Ash chuckled again before turning towards the pond just in time to see Titania attempting to join the game of tag that was still going between the water pokemon, with Abzu for some reason being the only one seemingly against it, though his reasons didn't seem spiteful or anything like that. Honestly, he looked more nervous than anything else. Zephya and Owly, the hoothoot, had already finished their self-cleaning and were already roosting, each one in one of the nearby branches. Rexus and Silk were still chatting amiably with one another and he could hear Chuck screaming followed by snickering from Igneel as the sounds of battle continued.

If this was an example of what to expect from Leaf joining him on his travels, he could see himself getting used and even enjoying her company.

* * *

Ash had a thoughtful expression on his face as he idly sat in one of the many couches of the lobby of the Pokémon Center. He was waiting for Leaf to come down so they could go to the Cerulean PokéMart in order to get/buy TMs restock on supplies when he received a call on his X-Transceiver from Professor Oak.

He picked it up and smiled politely at his sponsor, mentor and grandfather figure. "Good morning, Professor Oak. How are you doing?"

He returned the smile with one of his own. "Good morning to you as well, Ash. Other than a bit sleep deprivation, as usual, I am feeling excellent. How about you?" He asked him curiously, even though a knowing smile slowly began to appear on his face.

Ash saw the expression on his face and his own became a weird mix of bashful and prideful as he rubbed the skin between his nose and upper lip with his index finger. "Well, since you probably saw the Nugget Bridge Tournament the day before yesterday, I'm pretty sure you can tell how I'm doing, Professor Oak."

Professor Oak gave an amused chuckle as he nodded his head. "Indeed, Ash. First off, I wanted to congratulate you on that flawless win. Truthfully, after seeing the level of the competition during the first round, I thought that only my grandson, Leaf and that Paul youngster from Sinnoh would have given you an actual battle but after seeing the final match I both underestimated you and overestimated those three," he said, his tone proud and filled with praise.

Ash straightened it up subconsciously and he gave Oak a grateful expression. "Thank you, Professor Oak. That means a lot coming from you."

The old professor waved his words off easily before giving raising a critical eyebrow at him. "Yes… though you won, I believe forfeiting your pokemon after beating Paul's just to prove a point and get some kind of retribution on Leaf's behalf was a bit much, wouldn't you agree?"

Ash blushed a bit in embarrassment, feeling chastised, and he looked away with a bit of a grimace on his face. "I know. I already spoke with Leaf and even she thinks that it was a bit much even if she's glad that I beat him how I did. I don't regret it one bit but I will try to reign myself better in the future. I'm very well aware of the fact that if I hadn't been so much stronger and better overall than him, what I did would have resulted in me losing."

One needed to remember that despite his apparent maturity, intelligence and talent, Ash was still a thirteen-year-old young teen filled to the brim with raging hormones that messed with his emotions and judgement big time. What Professor Oak and his mother had taught him had most certainly taken root inside his mind and subconsciousness, yes, but he was still prone to emotional responses when they were sufficiently stimulated. He was human and thus wasn't perfect by any means.

Oak relaxed his expression and an approving smile replaced it. "I'm glad you can think back on your actions with an objective perspective, realize what you might have done correctly or not and learn from those experiences so you can grow further as a person. Delia and I most certainly did a good job with you," he said with a kind of self-satisfied grin that softened a bit after a moment. "I also wanted to thank you."

Ash got over his embarrasment quickly at those words and blinked confusedly at his sponsor. "Thank me? What for, Professor?"

"For beating Gary how you did during the tournament," he said simply and he chuckled in amusement at Ash's incredulous look before he elaborated. "While I don't see him changing his more… unpleasant and irritating disposition anytime soon, he's become more driven ever since you beat his two strongest pokemon with just one of your own. It's not much, but it's a step in the correct direction for Gary. He seems very determined to beat you as soundly as you did him."

Ash closed his eyes, looked up and groaned. "Why me…" He lamented. While he had been expecting something among those lines after Gary's parting words to him, it seemed like it was worse (better?) than he thought. He shook his head and deadpanned at Professor Oak. "That just means I will have to keep getting stronger and better to make sure Gary doesn't beat me then."

Oak grinned at him in a cheeky manner that somehow wasn't out of place on his wizened face. "Welcome to the perils and perks of antagonistic youthful rivalry, my boy. Ah… doesn't it take me back…" The old man finished his words with a wistful tone that had traces of melancholy and a tiny bit of regret.

Ash wondered for a moment what exactly Professor Oak was thinking about regarding his past before calling for his attention. "Is there anything else you needed, Professor?"

The elder Oak blinked a few times before shaking his head and composing himself, adopting a mildly embarrassed expression as he coughed into his fist. "Ah. My apologies, Ash. Lately I've been reminiscing more about the past. But that's me being the old man that I am," he waved it off with a hand motion before regarding Ash with a smile. "Before I get back to work, I wanted to make a suggestion regarding your next destination."

Ash raised his eyebrows at him and his eager and excited expression was the only response Professor Oak got from him.

The old Professor chuckled at Ash's silent urging. "The St. Anne will be docking on Vermillion City's harbor in about a month from now. It's a luxurious steamship, or S.S. for short, that goes around the world constantly and it will stay there for a week or so during its annual stop in Kanto. It will hold a League Official Tournament for all C-Ranked trainers and/or those that have three or four badges before it departs for Johto. Even though I know Delia wouldn't mind buying you the ticket that you'll need to get on the ship in the first place, you'll find that the requirements to enter the tournament are a bit more… peculiar."

Ash leaned forward a bit, clearly displaying his interest and curiosity.

Professor Oak smirked at him. "If you manage to defeat Lt. Surge, who has been ordered by the League to… dial it up, so to speak… you will get a ticket for the St. Anne and will be registered for the tournament automatically. I don't know the exact details, since I'm not a member of the Indigo League Tournament Organization Committee (ILTOC), but I think it has something to do with only the best of the best being allowed the chance to participate."

Ash returned the Professor's smirk right back at him. "Well, if wouldn't be an interesting tournament if just about anyone could enter, right?" He questioned rhetorically and earned a satisfied and agreeing laugh and nod from his sponsor. When the old man finally calmed down, Ash raised an eyebrow at him. "I take it that Gary will be heading there as well?"

Oak nodded his head. "That'd be correct. I told him I would tell you about it and he correctly assumed that you would also be interested. He said something about 'proving who's the superior trainer' between the two of you before he hung up," said Oak wryly as he shook his head with fond exasperation.

Ash's smirk became a savage grin. When he saw it, Professor Oak couldn't help but be reminded of the expression his own charizard would make whenever an exciting and possibly tough challenge was ahead. Knowing that it wasn't uncommon for trainers to unconsciously imitate their pokemon and vice versa after some time have passed, he didn't pay it a lot of mind as he focused on Ash's next words.

"You better tell Gary that he needs to step up his game if he wants to beat me. At the pace I'm setting for myself, it'll take me roughly a month to get to Vermillion. I won't be slacking off on training and battling with my pokemon and he shouldn't either. Otherwise what happened during the Nugget Bridge Tournament will repeat itself," said Ash with a confident expression on his face.

Professor Oak chuckled once again before nodding at him. "Will do and duly noted, Ash. Now, I must get back to my work. It's always pleasant speaking with you, my boy. Until next time," he said before giving him a short wave and promptly disconnecting the call.

Ash brought down his hand, closed his eyes, sighed deeply and leaned back comfortably into the couch.

A few minutes later, Leaf finally came down from her room and, looking visibly chirper than the day before, approached the seemingly napping Ash with a pretty smile on her face before tapping him repeatedly on the shoulder. "Hey, slakoth. Get up. We have some breakfast to eat, sights to see and TMs to get!" She told him excitedly as she switched from tapping his shoulders to jabbing her slightly sharp nail into his cheek.

Ash, who had been deep in thought, merely opened his eyes and regarded her with some annoyance. "It's not even been a full day yet and I'm already regretting agreeing to travel with you," he told her flippantly and he rolled his eyes when she merely stuck out her tongue at him playfully. He stood up, stretched his arms a bit and regarded her thoughtfully.

Leaf clasped her hands behind her back and tilted her head curiously to the side at the look Ash was giving her. "What?"

"Before you decided to come with me, what were your plans for when you left Cerulean City?" Asked Ash.

Leaf blinked before shrugging her shoulders. "I was planning to head to Celadon City. I was going to try and see if Erika could give me some pointers regarding Forest after beating the Celadon City Gym. Maybe even try my hand at getting one of the fable pokemon prizes of the Celadon Game Corner. There was also the Celadon Department Store as well…" she trailed off when she noticed the slight frown that marred his features. "… why?" She asked him tentatively.

Ash shook his head and smiled slightly at her. "I just spoke with Professor Oak a few minutes ago and he told me about something interesting. C'mon. Let's go get breakfast and I'll tell you all about it," he told her with a grin as he turned around and began to make his way towards the cafeteria of the Pokémon Center.

A curious Leaf followed after him.

* * *

Leaf had a bleary eyed and sleepy expression on her face as she regarded her best friend and now traveling companion with a significant amount of annoyance. "Just what the hell possessed you to wake me up at five in the freaking morning and then force me to walk for an hour before stopping in the middle of nowhere?"

Ash regarded Leaf with a patient expression on his face. "I don't normally wake up that early but I wanted to put some distance between us and Cerulean City before the morning training session." They were now in a plain with a few trees and boulders not too far off the main road of Route 5. It was the perfect spot to get some training done before proceeding to travel south properly. Ash smiled cheekily at her. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it sooner or later."

Leaf groaned and she looked like she wanted to strangle him. After a moment, she shook her head and sighed in resignation. "Well, I did ask for it so I guess I can't really complain, can I?" She spoke wryly before shrugging her shoulders and regarding him curiously. "What are we going to be doing?"

"We usually use the mornings to train the moves and techniques they have already learned so they can master it and/or to gain experience using the mastered moves and techniques via sparring against each other or practicing them repeatedly. The evenings are for learning new moves and techniques. Also, I make sure that each member of the team battles at least thrice every day against the pokemon of other trainers that are the same rank as me," explained Ash.

Leaf blinked repeatedly in surprise before whistling appreciatively. "Oh, wow. No wonder you dominated the Nugget Bridge Tournament. What are you? Some kind of machine?" She asked him teasingly at the end with a sly look.

Ash blushed a bit at the correctly perceived compliment. "A-anyways, even though it might not look like it, my schedule gives more than enough time to dedicate to eat, rest, research about my team so I can train them in the most efficacious way possible and write daily for Professor Oak's report."

Leaf looked a bit embarrassed as she sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Um, while I do train and battle with my pokemon daily when we are on the road, I'm not really that organized. I mostly just go with the flow," she admitted with what looked like a bit of shame.

Ash nodded at her with a reassuring smile. "And that's not a bad thing at all. You went with what you felt most comfortable with and it has clearly yielded results. However, I find that a schedule and some discipline make for bettle results. You don't have to perform the same thing every day, but I believe that whatever training you do, if you do it at set hours, along with resting, traveling and battling, it's the best way to become a better trainer."

Seeing how he managed to win the Nugget Bridge Tournament without losing a single pokemon, Leaf knew for sure that there had to be some truth to Ash's words since his results spoke for themselves. She nodded at him in understanding and promised herself that even though she won't be imitating what he did completely, she at least was going to develop a schedule to do whatever training she could come up with from now on.

"What are you going to be doing then?"

Leaf pondered for a long moment before nodding to herself. "I feel that some of my pokemon have yet to master their current moves and techniques so I guess we'll be working on that before I teach them any new ones," she said and smiled widely at Ash's approving nod. She raised an eyebrow at him curiously. "What about you?"

"I'm going to teach them the TMs I picked up and have them spar and practice with them until they master them. After that we'll work on combination techniques and learning a few more moves," said Ash musingly at the end before nodding to himself in acceptance to those plans. He then looked at her directly. "Training sessions last for no more than two hours. I'll be stopping around eight to get breakfast and get ready for traveling."

Leaf gave him a mock salute. "Roger that!" She exclaimed before sticking out her tongue at him, giggling and then jogging away to her 'side' of the plain.

Ash just shook his head fondly and watched as she released her ivysaur, mankey, spinarak, hoothoot and psyduck before she began talking to them. Some of them seemed a bit confused while others (Only the mankey, really) seemed excited at what she was saying. They eventually nodded at her in understanding before they moved a few yards away on every direction before they began to practicing their moves. Forest, the ivysaur, still needed at least two more days to recover completely so he laid down at Leaf's feet. Ash could feel its determination and resolve to become better and it seemed like Leaf did as well, since she crouched down and rubbed his forehead with a fond expression on her face.

Knowing that she could handle things perfectly on her own, Ash turned away and walked to his 'side'. After deeming that he was far enough from where Leaf and her team were doing their own training, Ash shrugged off his back pack, opened it and reached for the case that contained the TMs that were in his possession. He flicked it open, showing that he was in possession of nine of them.

Ash reached down to his belt and grabbed Igneel's warmer-than-normal pokeball. For his starter, he had picked up Brick Break. It was a fighting-type move that not only enhanced his forelimbs but also the chest and back muscles that were used to move said limbs. This was what Ash was thinking of when considering methods of enhancing Edgeclaw further… and if he was honest with himself, that was not going to be where he put a stop to it. There were at least two other moves that he would be getting his starter to learn in order to develop Igneel's go to close-combat techniques.

After using TM31 on Igneel, Ash grabbed Zephya's pokeball. For her he grabbed Aerial Ace since that was the best technique that she could learn that would not only improve her speed but also her air manipulation skills as well. The technique not only allowed her to reach speeds beyond what the human eye can follow momentarily but it also used air currents to do so. It was the perfect thing for her considered her preferred way of battling and what he had planned for her in terms of further development.

When he was done using TM40 on Zephya, he reached for Rexus' pokeball. For him, Ash decided that the best technique he should initially learn would be Protect at the moment. Why? Rexus was, and would continue to be, a mostly stationary and reactive fighter due to the way he was developing. It was because of that precisely that Ash felt he needed a completely defensive technique just in case. That wasn't going to be the only move Rexus would learn before reaching Vermillion City though. It was nigh time that he got some proper variety and long-range moves after all.

When TM17 was successfully used on Rexus, he moved onto Titania. For her, he chose Light Screen. The reasons were obvious. Since she was going to be a mobile, long-range tank, she needed to have a defensive technique that focused on preventing damage from long-range attacks. Not only that, but since Light Screen was a psychic-type move, he could begin developing Titania's psychic potential as well. She still needed to master dazzling gleam and fairy wind though. That meant she was going to have her work cut out for her before she learned a bit more variety.

After TM16 was spent on Titania, Ash grabbed the slightly humid pokeball that belonged to Abzu. He had picked up Water Pulse for him but he was going to give him Scald as well. Abzu had already mastered the techniques he already knew the moment he joined him during the days before the Nugget Bridge Tournament, so it was time for him to learn new ones. Water Pulse would be an excellent technique that Ash could see being used in different manners after reading about its concept and the burning effect of Scald was just simply too good to ignore considering that it came from a water-type move.

When he was finally left with the Stone Edge TM and the other two permanent ones he had bought using thirty thousand of his credits, Ash quickly discarded the used TMs and put back everything else inside his bag and strapped it on. With a practiced movement that wasn't too far away from being second nature, Ash released his team in a bright flash of white energy.

Igneel, Rexus and Abzu roared their greetings at him. Zephya chirped in a dignified manner. Titania giggled happily before floating towards him and wrapping her stubbly arms and legs around the outer side of his leg with a squeal. While Igneel and Rexus gave snorts of varying degrees of amusement at Titania's actions, Zephya glared and chirped disapprovingly at her. Abzu didn't seem to care, as he curiously looked around, always excited to see new things surrounding him.

Ash, getting used more and more to her antics, simply smiled down at her patted her head. "Hey, Titania. It's nice to see you… even if it's only been about an hour since we last saw each other," he added at the end with an amused tone.

Titania just hugged his leg tighter.

Ash just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well…" He trailed off before looking at Igneel, who was now giving his arms, which were currently glowing with faint, transparent white light, a curious expression on his reptilian face. "I see that you noticed you have a new a move. It's called brick break. I used a technical machine to teach it to you but you still have to master it though. You'll work on that during the mornings and afternoons so you can improve Edgeclaw with it, okay?"

Igneel grinned at him, nodded his head and growled in approval as the flame of his tail flared a bit.

Ash returned the grin with one of his own before he turned towards Zephya, who cocked her head to the side elegantly as she regarded him patiently. "I also used a technical machine to teach you a new move, girl. It's called Aerial Ace and you should be aware of what it can do," he said and smirked when she cawed and flapped her wings a bit, generating a light breeze with the motion as she nodded at him, her eyes gleaming. "Like Igneel, you'll work on mastering it and then implement it into your Jet technique to improve it even more before doing anything else."

Zephya simply nodded and chirped at him before she went back to looking at Titania, who was still affectionately hugging his leg, in disapproval. If Ash was reading his second friend right, it was likely that Zephya felt that Titania should handle herself with more class and dignity. Or she was just jealous. He couldn't really tell. Maybe an unholy combination of the two?

Shaking his head with a chuckle, he focused on Rexus. "The new technique at your disposal is called Protect. It creates an energy barrier around you that, well, protects you from all kinds of attack. It's very draining but mastering it will provide you with benefits beyond simply having a powerful defensive technique you can fall on if you are about to be overwhelmed. That's the only thing you'll be working on until you master it."

Rexus regarded him almost thoughtfully, his ears twitching a bit, before nodding in understanding with a huff as his front legs dug slightly into the ground beneath him.

He then looked down at Titania and rubbed the top of her head tenderly as he addressed her. "Your newest technique is called Light Screen. It lets you create a barrier of psychic energy in front of you that can protect you from long range attacks. Not only that, but we can also start developing your psychic potential as well. When you master it, along with dazzling gleam and fairy wind, we'll work on other things, alright?"

Titania giggled, nodded almost her entire body happily before she tightened her hold around his leg and began lovingly nuzzling against it. Ash just looked down at her with a fond expression and a chuckle.

Taking his attention away from Titania after a moment, he gave his attention towards Abzu. "I actually used two technical machines on you, buddy. Scald, which I got from the Cerulean Gym when I defeated Misty," he said and chuckled as Abzu's eyes lit up before visibly smirking and a sound that sounded like snickering came from his chest. He recalled Misty saying that she never took a liking to Abzu and Ash could kind of start inferring as to why. "And Water Pulse. There is a lot I want you to work on before we reach Vermillion City but we'll start there."

Abzu opened his maw wide and made a squawking sound towards Ash before grinning at him and hopping from side to side a bit. That made him look almost like he was dancing. While that was amusing, Ash focused on the little bumps that he managed to catch a glimpse of when Abzu opened his mouth. He knew that a totodile came out of its egg with just a few teeth and that it was when the rest grew out completely that indicated they were ready to evolve into croconaw.

Judging by what he just saw and the knowledge he already had and was steadily increasing about the totodile line ever since Abzu joined his team, it was likely that Abzu would be ready to evolve in two weeks, three at the most if he put him under a diligent schedule of training and battling combined with a healthy diet and plenty of rest, which Ash was going to make sure he, and the rest of his team, got. He was going to make sure Abzu was the strongest and healthiest he could be as a totodile before he evolved though.

With an eager grin, Ash addressed his team. "Just like in Cerulean, apart from facing the Vermillion City Gym, we are going to also participate in an official Pokémon League Tournament. We are still one rank below what is required to be able to participate but we also have a month to reach it. That means that while we will continue to train very hard, we will be battling other trainers even more," he said and his grin widened as his fist tightened determinately at his side when eager and enthusiastic sounds were the response of his team to his words. "That's what I like to hear! I won't be slacking off in my own training either! Let's get it!"

* * *

Ash had a small smile on his face as he watched the fight unfolding in front of him not too far away. Leaf, who stood by his side, had a very focused frown on her pretty face as her eyes never left that of her pokemon.

Chuck, her mankey, was facing Igneel… again. And, unsurprisingly, the fight was going against the pig monkey pokemon.

"Keep it up, Chuck! Work around Igneel and look for an opening!" Shouted Leaf in an encouraging tone as her tightened fists were held close to her chest.

Ash didn't say anything and merely continued to watch the fight.

Igneel's arms were glowing with a faint white light as he enhanced them with the fighting-type energy of brick break. Chuck's forepaws and lower limbs were glowing white as he used karate chop and low kick to enhance himself. The two pokemon were exchanging blows, countering and dodging as they battled up close.

While it was obvious that Chuck had more raw skill and ability as a pure fighting-type than Igneel, who was only a fire-type, that was the only advantage that the mankey held over the charmeleon. Even though Chuck possessed a relatively great amount of physical strength when taking into consideration his overall size, as a second stage pokemon Igneel actually matched it thanks to his own training and currently being enhanced with a fighting-type technique.

Igneel was also both bigger and taller than mankey, giving him not only a weight advantage over the pig monkey pokemon but also an advantage in reach, both of which were very influential when it came to fighting up close. Igneel was also faster than Chuck and was used to dealing with pokemon faster than himself. And finally, Igneel was simply more experienced than the mankey.

This meant, that while fighting Chuck was merely beneficial for Igneel so he could train up his finesse, control and raw fighting skill, for Chuck, fighting Igneel was more than just a difficult challenge. Enhanced not only with the power of karate chop and low kick but also with fury attack, Chuck was giving it his all to barely match Igneel. If the increasingly frustrated light in narrowed red eyes was anything to go by, Chuck was getting angrier as he continued to fail on getting a solid hit on his opponent.

As one the most naturally aggressive fighting-type pokemon, characteristic shared with the pangoro native to Kalos, mankey enjoyed the thrill of a worthy challenge even more than other fighting-types. However, that same aggressiveness worked as a double-edged sword in some cases. For example, the angrier Chuck was getting because he couldn't get a hit in, the more desperate and sloppier he was getting with his fighting.

The fire lizard had a smirk on his face but his eyes were serious as he was focusing on keeping up brick break while fighting the very maneuverable, ferocious and unpredictable mankey. He matched the pig monkey pokemon blow for blow when they met head on, their fists clashing with small shockwaves of displaced air and energy. Whenever Chuck would attempt to kick him, Igneel would either dodge, block or counter using his superior weight, height or speed and whenever Leaf's mankey attempted to get him from behind after using a bit of skillful footwork, Igneel would use his tail to smack him away before turning towards him.

That was something that Ash noticed Igneel was starting to use more often when he fought up close: his tail. When he flared up the flame on the tip of it, the attack could actual make some decent amount of damage and it had the advantage of being quite unpredictable to be suddenly attacked with it during a fast-paced face-to-face fight. Since he hadn't given the idea to Igneel, he'd guessed that this new development was due to Igneel's own instincts.

Since he didn't restrain their nature, his pokemon were more in tune with their instincts, which Ash felt would be better in the long run if he managed to combine a Pokémon's natural instincts with mastered techniques, strategies and tactics gained through experience. Needless to say, he was more than pleased with Igneel's self-improvement.

Ash winced a bit when Igneel sent Chuck flying away after hitting him directly on the chest after opening up the defenses of the pig monkey pokemon with a well-placed counter.

Leaf looked worried towards where the first pokemon she ever caught landed on a heap. "Chuck! No! Are you okay?!" She made to run towards him to check on him. From where she stood, she could see that he had slightly burned fur and more than a few bruises from being hit by Igneel so many times. While her mankey was improving by leaps and bounds with the increased training regime and discipline over the past week, plus his daily sparring with Igneel, she still didn't like seeing her pokemon get hurt.

"I think we can say that brick break is mastered. Let's work now on improving edge claw with it," he said to Igneel, who nodded with a smirk as he stopped using his newest technique, and sighed before turning towards where Leaf was hurrying in the downed Chuck's direction. "Hey! I think we should-"

Ash stopped talking, and Leaf stopped moving towards mankey, when said pig monkey pokemon suddenly shot up to his feet with the angriest and most frustrated expression the two of them had ever seen. Chuck began to furiously hop around and wave his arms as he gave a high-pitched scream… that began to deepen as his body was engulfed with a bright white light and began to grow.

Idly, Ash noticed how all the other sounds of their pokemon training stopped as they all likely focused on Chuck's sudden, but not necessarily unexpected, evolution.

After his body tripled in size, with his arms and legs becoming longer and more muscular and tail seemingly disappearing into his body, a very much still angry and frustrated primeape stood there. Chuck angrily snorted and smacked his forehead with his 'gloved' hand before shooting towards Igneel with a glowing fist at speeds that were significantly faster than before.

Igneel only had time to blink and brace himself before he was sent flying via a similar punch to the one that finally sent Chuck over the edge enough to trigger his evolution.

"Wow…" muttered Leaf with wide eyes before a grin settled on her face and she fist pumped with both arms and began to cutely jump up and down. "Yes! You finally evolved, Chuck! Now teach that ridiculous overgrown and overpowered lizard what you are really made of!"

Chuck's response was to angrily snort and scream as he raised his arms above his head and flexed, his muscles bulging as he showed off the new power that was at his disposal.

Even though Ash was happy for his best friend, he couldn't help the way his eyebrow twitched as he regarded her primeape. "First her hoothoot a few days ago and now Chuck?" He asked with some exasperation as he looked up to where Zephya and Owly, the now noctowl, were resuming their airborne spar.

With Owly now being almost as tall as Zephya, but with a thinner build overall, the two of them were perfect sparring partners even if their battling style differed greatly from each other. While Zephya's fighting style was all about speed, physical attacks with a high amount of momentum behind them and long-range attacks and Owly's revolved more around long-range attacks and indirect manipulation using his psychic abilities, the basics behind how bird pokemon fought were still the same.

Ash shook his head, crossed his arms and turned towards where Igneel had landed. "You okay there, bud?" He asked with some concern only for Igneel, who had been dazedly laying his stomach, snarled and shot to his feet with all his teeth showing and his tail flaring brightly behind him.

When Chuck snorted and growled at Ash's starter, Igneel's only response was to activate Scorchbite and Edgeclaw, the corner of his mouth leaking darkness and flames as his claws glowed brightly and lengthened.

While Leaf cheered her pokemon on, Ash felt like facepalming. He was just glad they had the foresight on stocking on many medical supplies for their pokemon and that there were quite a few small towns with PokéCenters and PokéMarts on the route they will be taking towards Vermillion City. They were not going to put a foot within Saffron City after all, even if Ash momentarily had the desire to test himself against Sabrina to see the current gap between them.

However, since he and Leaf were on a deadline, his impulsive desire was crushed and discarded. Instead, they focused solely on training and battling.

Much to his disappointment, Leaf had decided to not travel with him all the way up to Vermillion City. While she was going to hit every major Kanto gym, which included the one in Vermillion, just like him, she believed that the best course of action for herself would be to go to Celadon City, challenge Erika and hopefully get at least some pointers from her on how to correctly train Forest, her ivysaur. It made sense, considering that Erika's venasaur was considered to be the strongest grass type trained pokemon in both Kanto and Johto.

Since other than a gym battle, the only other reason they would be going to Vermillion would be for the tournament that was going to be held on the S.S. St. Anne. And with Leaf being sure that she was not going to be able to reach C-Rank in time for participating, going there for her would be moot and not as beneficial as it would be if she went to Celadon. Ash understood and even agreed with her decision and reasoning. That didn't mean that he had to like it.

Besides, even if it hadn't been stated explicitly, the two of them knew that travelling together was going to be a temporary affair. Ash liked Leaf and enjoyed her company and the sentiment was wholeheartedly returned by his best friend, but their approach to travelling and training was simply too different for them to be one hundred percent comfortable as travelling companions.

"It's been a week and I can already see the benefits of training and travelling the way you do, Ash. Owly finally became a noctowl and the rest of my team are on a level I believed would have taken them at least three weeks to reach. I will continue applying the things regarding battling and training, that's for sure, but I'll do it my way," she had told him with an apologetic smile the evening of the day her hoothoot evolved into a noctowl when they broached the subject of them eventually parting ways.

Ash could respect that and was glad that Leaf would be taking something positive of their time together. Even he had to admit to himself that his pace and methods were not for everyone. He turned away from the slugfest between Igneel and Chuck, which was decidedly more even now, and focused on the rest of his team as he recalled how much they had advanced in the past ten days since they left Cerulean City.

' _It took Zephya almost an entire week to master Aerial Ace but she managed to do so without too much difficulties since she was only focusing on that training wise. Other than her drills to keep up the proficiency she has gained with her moves and techniques, she is now working on adding Aerial Ace to Jet. I don't know how long that's going to take but I'm sure she'll get it done before we reach Vermillion. After that, I think she'll only need to learn Steel Wing and work on increasing her overall power and strength until she evolves into pidgeot,'_ thought Ash as he looked as his pidgeotto and Leaf's noctowl going through complex aerial manouvers as they tried to hit each other.

Zephya wasn't going to be evolving any time soon but Ash liked to plan and be prepared as ahead of time as he could in a way that allowed him to not be caught off guard but also didn't take away from him the ability to adapt and improvise in case of any eventuality.

Ash turned towards where Rexus was training with Forest, Leaf's ivysaur, who had made a full recovery eight days ago and had joined training with an eagerness that had surprised Leaf. Ash watched as Forest opened his mouth and formed a swirling sphere of green energy with a yellow core that he launched directly at Rexus.

His nidorino responded by grunting and creating a protective barrier in the shape of a dome in front of him that was colored a transparent light green.

The Energy Ball connected with the Protect and the air was displaced a bit as a small explosion resulted from the collision, dark smoke obscuring Rexus from view for a moment. When it was dispersed, a slightly panting Rexus was revealed standing strong behind his defensive dome of energy, which looked just a tad weaker after withstanding Forest's attack.

A moment later Forest launched another Energy Ball and Rexus did his best to use Protect to defend against it.

Ash smiled and gave an approving nod. _'Rexus is very close to mastering it. Protect isn't supposed to be used continuously like that but the strain that doing so puts on Rexus' reserves also serves as good training to increase the amount he has and the control he has over it. Hmm, I think I'll consider it mastered when he can withstand five Energy Balls from Forest without faltering. After that I'll teach him Thunderbolt and Ice Beam to give him more long-range attack options.'_

After watching Rexus for a bit, he turned towards where Titania was training with Silk, Leaf's spinarak.

He watched with a mix of amusement and satisfaction as his clefairy giggled in delight as she used her almost perfected Light Screen to stop Silk's Signal Beam, the bright blue rectangular construct of psychic energy only faltering slightly as the bug-type energy in the shape of a thin beam failed to break it despite clearly putting everything she got into it.

But that was to be expected. Not only had Silk only learned Signal Beam a few days ago, but Titania also had more overall experience and strength than her bug-type training partner. The fact that she been using and training her newest move for more time than Silk was also a significant factor to keep in mind.

Nonetheless, Silk wasn't deterred at all and she continued to launch Signal Beam after Signal Beam at Titania's Light Screen, the clefairy just giggling and squealing, her brightly glowing blue eyes making the scene as cute as it was unnerving.

' _It didn't take long for her to master Dazzling Gleam and Fairy Wind,'_ Ash thought with pride and fondness as he looked at the more affectionate member of his team. _'And it won't take her long to master Light Screen as well. Like Rexus, she's going to learn Thunderbolt and Ice Beam once she's done with her defensive technique to give her more variety at long range.'_

Giving Titania and Silk one last look, Ash finally focused on Abzu and Donny, Leaf's psyduck.

Curiously enough, both Abzu and Donny were working on the same moves: Scald and Water Pulse. Like him, Leaf had received TM55 from the Cerulean Gym and she had bought TM03 at Ash's suggestion.

His totodile and Leaf's psyduck were having a mock battle only attacking each other with streams of scalding water and swirling spheres of water and energy. Also, while they trained to master those techniques, they were also working on their reflexes and evasive manouvers as they tried their damnest to not be hit by their opponent's attacks. While as water types the damage won't be that significant, the force behind the attacks still hurt.

Ash snorted as Abzu 'danced' away from the path of Donny's Scald and retaliated with a Water Pulse before falling to the ground. _'I know he'll be able to fight like that as a croconaw but I don't think it will be possible as a feraligatr. Mmm, oh well, it works for him now so we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Anyways, I think it's safe to assume that Scald and Water Pulse are mastered at this point. I'll have Igneel teach him Metal Claw so he can eventually learn Edgeclaw once he-'_

"C'mon, Chuck! You can do it! Show him whose boss!"

Ash's thoughts were interrupted by Leaf's encouraging and almost desperate shouts. Turning towards the battle between his starter and Leaf's newly evolved primeape, he saw that Igneel and Chuck, both covered in many types of injuries, were pushing against each other, clawed and gloved hands locked tightly together, their arms glowing with their respective strength enhancing technique as they pushed against the other in a contest of strength which Igneel was slowly but steadily losing…

… until he gave a draconic smirk before hitting Chuck in the face with a point-blank Flame Burst that knocked it out cold almost immediately the attack hit.

"Hey! That's cheating, you stupid fire lizard! It was supposed to be hand-to-hand only!"

Igneel's response to Leaf's indignant shout was a snort and a roll of his eyes before uncaringly shrugging his shoulders before he sat down to catch his breath. When it looked like Leaf was ready to go towards his starter to beat him herself, Ash sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose in a clear sign of exasperation.

Ash knew that if it weren't for how grateful she was and the clear results his methods had on her pokemon, he'd be lacking a charmeleon on his team.

A scorned Leaf was something to be feared after all.

* * *

It's been almost two weeks since they left Cerulean City. Had Ash and Leaf only focused on travelling and taken the normal route towards Vermillion City, meaning Route 5, stopping at Saffron City and the Route 6, they would have been nearing said port city by now. However, because of the route they have taken and the pace set by Ash, they were now just a bit more than halfway there.

Since Ash was also on a deadline and neither of them wanted to go to Saffron City yet, they have been following the path towards the south taken by the North Blue for the past two days, always keeping it within sight to their right so as to not go off route. If Ash wanted to participate in the SS St. Anne Tournament via winning at the Vermillion City Gym, he needed to take the fastest route towards Vermillion City.

Speaking about participating on the tournament, Ash had not lacked off in the past twelve days when it came to training and battling other trainers to reach C-Rank.

At D-Rank each pokemon participating in a battle was 'worth' forty ranking points and eight hundred credits. In order to make the most of each battle against other trainers he made sure they were all D-Rank just like him. In summary, he participated in more than sixty battles and won all of them, naturally. At the moment, he was pretty close to the mark of ten thousand ranking points.

And let's just say that if Ash kept the pace up, he was definitely going to be participating in the next tournament. Not only that, but the amount of training and battling he had been doing was draining his supplies a bit more than what he had calculated so the amount of money he was earning kind of made up for that. It was also a good thing that there were a few towns with PokéCenters and PokéMarts in between Cerulean City, Saffron City and Vermillion City so he wasn't exactly 'in danger' of running out of supplies.

Despite that, Ash hadn't slacked off with his responsibilities regarding being a trainer sponsored by professor Oak. He had been diligently working on his fourth report every night. Speaking of which…

"So…" Ash trailed off as his eyes flickered towards Leaf for a moment before focusing on the path ahead. Chuck, her primeape, was walking by her side while Abzu was walking by his. While Chuck would randomly punch a tree they were passing by, Abzu would chew on them until he bit through them or Ash called for him to catch up. The rest of his teeth had finally grown out and his aggressiveness was an all-time high. Abzu was just one step away from evolution.

In hindsight, perhaps having those two out at the same time while traveling wasn't the best idea…

Zephya, like always, was also flying overhead serving as their scout. Even though their sense of hearing was equally developed, Zephya's eyesight was superior than Owly's, Leaf's noctowl, by a wide margin. There was also the fact that Owly preferred being inside his pokeball unless it was dark or they were indoors.

"Did Professor Oak notice I helped you with your last report?"

Leaf crossed her arms and raised a sarcastic eyebrow at him. "Do you even have to ask? He's Professor Oak. Of course, he did," she told him with some exasperation as she rolled her eyes at him. "Now I have to keep up the same quality as that one for the rest of my reports. Thank you very much, Ash," she gave him the stink eye, though there wasn't really any heat behind them.

Ash ignored Chuck's glare, which was very heated, with the ease of remembering it being beat down by Igneel time and time again and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't blame me. You are the one who asked for help," he said, sternly tapping Abzu's snout when he looked ready to jump at Chuck and bite him for glaring at him, and raised an eyebrow when she groaned at the reminder. "Besides, you took notes on the advice I gave you. You just have to the same thing from now on."

"I know, I know," Leaf groused as she turned her 'despairing' eyes towards the waters of the North Blue. "It's just that it means more work for me," she said and Ash could almost hear her pout.

Now it was time for Ash to roll his eyes. "I can see I've been wasting my time with you. Your work ethic sucks," he said, his voice mockingly disgusted as he stared at her playfully.

Leaf turned sharply towards him, her pout turning into an angry expression that wasn't entirely fake. "Well, excuse me if we can't all be workaholic machines like you, Ash!"

Ash just laughed it up and after a moment Leaf sighed in exasperation before she joined in his amusement. As they continued to converse and bicker with one another, Ash and Leaf enjoyed the scenery around them.

The areas around Route 5 and Route 6 were mostly made out of plains, small hills and patches of woods. The North Blue was the main water body but there could be found a few ponds and small rivers here and there as well. It was because of the fair amount of diversity of these areas that many pokemon could be found here. Luckily, or not depending on your perspective, most pokemon around these areas were very pacific in nature and didn't approach humans unless they were threatened or were feeling particularly territorial that day.

Leaf, in particular, was a bit disappointed since she was looking for another pokemon that caught her eye so she could complete her team. Ash, for his part, didn't mind whatsoever the relatively small amount of wild pokemon encounters. He knew that any pokemon with the right training and encouragement could become a fierce and powerful combatant but he was a bit more… picky… with the pokemon he chose for his team. If he wanted to be the best of the best, he needed to catch, train and bond with the best of the best after all.

It wasn't too long before midday/lunch time that their enjoyment of the scenery was interrupted.

Ash looked up when he heard Zephya cawing sharply three times. "That's the signal for when there's another trainer right ahead of us," he said before turning towards Lead with an excited smirk on his face. "Let's see if they are up for a battle!"

Abzu roared his agreement as hopped from one foot to another as he eagerly followed after his trainer.

As Ash upped his pace, Leaf sighed and rolled her eyes as she followed after him. As much as she enjoyed everything pertaining to being a pokemon trainer, sometimes Ash's enthusiasm for battling and training, no matter how cute it made him look, became just a bit too much. "C'mon Chuck. With any luck, you'll get to battle too," she said, earning a snort and a flex from her currently strongest pokemon.

It only took them about ten minutes to find the trainer Zephya had spotted. It turned out to be a young teen that had to be pretty close to their age. He had tanned skin, green hair that was spiked backwards with a fringe falling in between his narrow eyes. He was wearing an orange and black shirt blue shorts and matching sneakers. Judging by the way he was staring at the waters of the North Blue not too far away from the shore, it was likely that he was looking for a water type pokemon.

A sandslash and a hitmonchan stood by his side as they also stared at the water.

"Hey there! How is it going?!" Ash called out from a prudent distance away. It wouldn't do to be attacked by surprised protective pokemon after all. He raised his hands in a none threatening manner when the trainer and his pokemon turned towards him sharply at the sound of his voice and the pokemon adopted protective stances in front of him at the sight of him, Leaf, Abzu and Chuck.

The teen looked at them a bit reservedly as he stood behind his pokemon. "What's up? I'm just looking for water pokemon," he said, eyes looking up and widening significantly when Zephya came down and perched herself on a nearby branch behind Ash and co. "Holy shit! That's one big pidgeotto!" And kind of familiar too. He could swear he'd seen it before…

Ash smirked a bit and he could almost feel Zephya preening. "She gets that a lot," he said before nodding upwards to them, his expression turning challenging. "You and your pokemon look tough. Care for a battle?"

At that, the teen and his pokemon relaxed visibly. He returned Ash's challenging expression with one of his own. "Sure. But I'm kind of busy and it's almost lunch time so I can only afford to use two of my pokemon," he said before pausing for a moment and raising a questioning eyebrow. "Am I fight only you or is girly over there interested too?"

Ash's response was to turn questioningly towards Leaf.

And her response was to motion towards Chuck, who was snorting and snarling and almost vibrating in place as he stared at the hitmonchan. Said pokemon was staring right back at Chuck with a glaring expression as it psyched itself up by jumping from foot to foot.

The teen chuckled. "I guess that answers that," he said with a shrug. "Let's have them go a it first. You can call me A.J."

"My name's Ash," said the black-haired teen as began to move away to put himself at a safe distance from the upcoming battle. He snorted in amusement at the sight of an annoyed Abzu doing the same, clearly having wanted to go first. He knelt down and scratched him by the ridges on his back, making him close his eyes in pleasure and visibly relax. "Don't worry, bud. You'll get to fight too," he assured him.

"And I'm Leaf," she said as she stepped back a bit. She pulled out league issued tablet as Chuck aggressively stepped forward while snorting, flexing and smacking his chest with his gloved hands. "Standard one-on-one rules?"

A.J. nodded as he pulled out his own tablet. "Sure," he said, going through the process of setting up the official trainer battle as his hitmonchan stepped forward and went a short and skillful set of footwork and jabs as it glared at Chuck. A.J. put his tablet away after a moment. "You ready?"

Leaf did the same and nodded, expression focused as she got her head in the game. "Yeah!"

At an unspoken signal, the two of them started the battle.

"Mad bulk and get in close, Chuck! Overwhelm it!"

"Agility guard and focus, Hitmonchan! Mach it!"

With critical and objective eyes, Ash watched as Chuck launched himself at his opponent after using Bulk Up, Rage and Focus Energy to enhance himself overall and then Karate Chop and Low Kick to enhance his punches and kicks. The hitmonchan also enhanced itself overall, Ash could only tell that it was with Agility and Focus Energy with certainty, and its gloved fists but stayed on the defensive.

The two fighting-type pokemon met each other in a barrage of mighty and skillful enhanced blows. Using his savage fighting style, Leaf's primeape tried to overwhelm A.J.'s hitmonchan, whom, for its part, used its refined fighting technique and footwork to keep up with its opponent.

' _This can go either way,'_ thought Ash as he absently continued to pet Abzu, his attention completely on the battle happening a few dozen yards in front of him.

Chuck was faster, more unpredictable and more aggressive than the hitmonchan, but said punching pokemon not only matched its opponent strength but also had more reach and its fighting style was more refined. That resulted in an even match up when it came to sheer battle prowess. Chuck would attack with punches and kicks coming from seemingly every direction but the hitmonchan's refined boxing style and superior reach allowed it to evade, parry, block and/or counter most of the attacks directed its way. In response, Chuck either evaded or ignored when his attacks were countered and continued its onslaught unimpeded.

Every time an attack was parried or blocked, the air was displaced a bit and a small shockwave of transparent energy would be produced originating from the point of contact between the two fighting pokemon. It was obvious that if the flow of the battle didn't change, it would quickly become one of attrition…

A.J., it seemed like, read his mind in that moment.

"Feint! Vacuum Wave!"

The hitmonchan suddenly stopped its movements right when it was going to block one of Chuck's punches, forcing the primeape to overextend its swing. Since the pig monkey was also in the air in that moment, he didn't have the footing that would have allowed him to correct his form and prevent what happened next. With a smirking expression on its face, the hitmonchan sent a straight jab directly towards Chuck's body, sending him flying away with a focused blast of pressurized air.

Leaf put on a distressed expression on her face. "No! Chuck!"

Just like his pokemon, A.J. was smirking victoriously. "Let's go, Hitmonchan! Finish it with Focus Punch!"

Since it had been using Focus Energy since the beginning of the battle, the hitmonchan only had to get into a stance for a moment until its right fist was glowing a bright orange before launching itself towards the slowly rising Chuck at decent speeds.

That was when Leaf's distressed expression turned into a devious grin. "Revenge toss, Chuck!"

A.J.'s eyes widened as his previous expression was wiped off his face. "What?! No! Hitmonchan!"

But it was too late. Chuck's eyes snapped into furious focus the moment the hitmonchan reached him and cocked its arm back to deliver its attack. With a furious scree,, Chuck ducked under the Focus Punch and hooked its right arm under the hitmonchan's armpit as he jumped up, taking the two of them more than twenty meters into the air. Up there, Chuck's body began to glow as he started to spin around, a screaming hitmonchan incapable of doing anything to stop it.

After a moment of continuous spinning, Chuck released his hold on the hitmonchan with a screech and sent it plummeting towards humid and rocky soil. A.J.'s hitmonchan collided with the ground with a resounding and painful thud and the air from its lung was expelled forcefully and not a moment later, before it could even regain its breath and attempt to stand up, Chuck landed on top of it and began to punch all over its face and chest with Karate Chop enhanced punches.

A.J. quickly recalled his pokemon with a surprised and resigned expression on his face. "Holy crap! I wasn't expecting that!" He exclaimed as he fished out his tablet and began to accept hi defeat.

Leaf allowed her mildly injured pokemon to celebrate via snorting, grunting and flexing before she returned him to his pokeball. "Thanks! It's a technique that we've been practicing recently precisely to surprise opponents," she chirped happily as she pulled out her tablet and accepted her win.

A.J. nodded. "It certainly worked. Besides, I think I should've continued attacking with Vacuum Wave so it's my mistake. Good battle, girly," he said before turning towards the black-haired teen with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Now let's see if your pal over there can give me as good a fight."

Leaf's lips twitched upwards as she giggled. "Oh, I'm sure he can~" she said in a sing song voice as she began to walk towards were Ash had been standing.

"Good battle. Chuck is sure getting better and better," he said as he raised his hand towards her.

Leaf rolled her eyes but smiled good naturally as she gave him a high-five. "Thanks. I guess getting beat up multiple times every day by your ridiculous starter does have its results," she said with exasperated amusement before giving him a serious look. "Don't go easy on him. He's good."

Ash nodded as he walked pass her. "Yeah, I saw. Wasn't planning on it," he said before reaching his side of the battlefield and directing Abzu to stand in front of him. He brought up his X-Transceiver and sent out the battle request towards 'Arnold James'. _'Hm. That explains A.J,'_ he thought before raising an eyebrow at him. "Standard rules, right?"

"Yeah!" His opponent quickly accepted the battle request and pocketed his tablet as he motioned for his sandslash to step forward with a grin. "Just so you know, Sandslash right here is my starter and my strongest pokemon. I hope you're bringing you're A-Game, otherwise you're going down." As if to emphasize his point, the sandslash's spikes bristled as it hissed aggressively and brandished its gleaming claws.

Ash smirked in excitement as Abzu responded snapping his jaws and snarling is it got into a low stance. "Oh, don't worry. My entire team is my A-Game."

And that was the signal for the battle to start, apparently.

"Dance! Curl! Roll spin!"

Ash's eyes widened a bit when the sandslash first used Swords Dance, then Defense Curl and finally an unholy combination of Rapid Spin and Rollout to shoot itself towards Abzu at blurring speeds. "Scald! Get out of the way!"

Abzu carried out his instructions before Ash finished the first word. A stream of pressurized scalding water, so much that the air around it wavered due to the steam, was shot towards the incoming sandslash directly from Abzu's opened mouth. Even though he was more or less expecting it, Ash was still a bit surprised when his opponent's momentum was barely stopped by Abzu's attack.

Despite sharing his trainer's emotions, Abzu still had the presence of mind to stop his attack and hop out of the way just before he was hit. A.J.'s sandslash, despite being thoroughly wet and steaming, showed the skill and control it had by swerving around Ash so as not to hit him and turning towards Abzu's new position. The sandslash couldn't really see him but it could sense where he was standing thanks to its connection to the earth as an earth-type.

Ash decided to capitalize on that.

"Jump back and pulse barrage! Aqua Jet!"

Hopping back to put more distance between them, Abzu opened its great maw wide and quickly formed a swirling sphere of pressurized water and light blue energy that he launched directly at the incoming sandslash. The water attack hit directly with a small explosion that while barely noticeable, still resulted in slowing down the speed of sandslash's movement and spinning.

Abzu managed to launch three more water pulses that were weaker and smaller than the ones he was actually capable of doing normally before he landed, slowing his opponent down even further. The moment he touched the ground he cloaked himself in water and light blue energy that swirled around him and shaped itself vaguely into the form of a drill before he shot directly towards the still incoming sandslash.

' _Holy crap!'_ Exclaimed Ash mentally when he saw the two pokemon colliding with seemingly the same amount of force despite all of Abzu's previous attacks connecting. The air was displaced as a shockwave originated from the point of contact before the two pokemon were launched back, both of them landing on their feet and glaring heatedly at the other.

Abzu was panting a bit and he actually looked a bit hurt form the collision. A.J.'s sandslash, even though it was also breathing a bit heavily, fairly burned by Scald and just wet overall by the amount of water attacks it received, looked more annoyed than anything else. The difference in level between Abzu and the sandslash was quite obvious…

… and it seemed like A.J. was very well aware of it. His grin was smug. "Your totodile ain't half bad, dude, but Sandslash isn't going to be beat just with type advantage! Tunnel slash!"

When the sandslash used dig to disappear into the ground, Ash got a fairly good idea of what it was about to do. "Jump away, Abzu! Don't stop moving!"

The totodile did just that and not a moment later the sandslash exploded from the ground beneath where Abzu had been just standing, body covered in a brown aura and brightly white glowing claws twice as long and sharp as before. The mouse pokemon glared at the big jaw pokemon in annoyance before it dived back into the ground.

As Abzu continued to successfully, but barely, evade sandslash attacks, Ash allowed himself to relax a bit and think. What Abzu was currently doing was basically his 'hopping dance' that he did most of the time every day when he was outside his pokeball, so at the moment he wasn't sapping his stamina. Quite the contrary, actually. One could even say that he was resting. Ash knew, however, that he needed to do something if he wanted to win.

' _Abzu is significantly weaker than his opponent and if A.J.'s words are anything to go by, it was specifically trained to withstand water attacks and I'm inclined to believe him after I saw it shrug off Abzu's attacks despite them clearly doing some damage. I doubt Scratch will do anything and Abzu just started learning Metal Claw. We'll have to get in close for Bite then but that's going to be risky,'_ he thought furiously, no once taking his eyes from Abzu was he continued to jump around the battlefield evading the attacks coming from beneath the earth.

Before Ash could come with a strategy, A.J. seemingly got tired of the game of mouse and croc. "I'm sick of this! Sandslash! Sand tomb! Trap it!"

Ash's eyes widened and he couldn't say or do anything as the sandslash came out of the ground while Abzu was still in the air, a dozen or so meters away from where the totodile would land. It eyes and body glowed brown as it pressed its body to the ground and the area surrounding the spot Abzu would land became quick sand. Predictably, the moment Abzu couldn't change directions after jumping and when landed he was trapped in the quick sand.

"No! Abzu!" Shouted Ash as the sandslash dived into the ground once again, resurfacing a moment later right beneath the trapped and struggling Abzu, making the totodile give a sharp cry of agony as it was hit not only with the power of Dig but also twice with Slash. Ash watched almost helplessly as Abzu landed on a heap a few meters away in front of him face down, body limp.

A.J. smirked smugly as he saw this. "Well, I guess that's my… win…" he trailed off when he saw Abzu's body twitching before his eyes snapped open and with a pained expression on he began to push himself up with shaking arms. A.J.'s eyes widened in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me…"

Since Abzu was facing away from him, Ash couldn't see his front but he could see that droplets of blood falling in between Abzu's legs. Considering the attacks the sandslash had used, he had a fairly good idea of the kind of injury Abzu had to have on his chest. Even though his friend seemed ready to keep fighting, Ash wasn't about to let that happen in his condition. He raised Abzu's pokeball. "Wait. I forfe-!"

That was when Abzu snarled and then roared in defiance and fury as his body was covered in a bright white light. All eyes widened as they stared at the evolving pokemon as Abzu grew in size and mass and slightly changed shape.

Ash was the first to get out of his stupor. He grinned in excitement and lowered Abzu's pokeball. _'Finally!'_ He thought to himself just before he heard his pokedex beeping from his pocket and the words that from it in its mechanical androgynous voice supremely sounded sweet in Ash's ears.

 _ **Totodile has evolved into Croconaw! Upon evolution, the moves Scratch and Bite have advanced to Slash and Crunch respectively. Upon evolution, Croconaw has learned the move Ice Fang.**_

The bright white light dispersed as the process of evolution was finally completely and there stood Abzu, now a croconaw, seemingly without any fatigue whatsoever as he snarled, the sound significantly deeper and more intimidating than before.

Despite retaining the same bipedal crocodilian appearance, Abzu had changed noticeably after evolving. Now as tall as Igneel but with a stockier build, he had well-developed, rounded jaws with two fangs visible in the corners of the lower jaw even when closed. His eyes were still red with black markings around them. There were three clusters of red spikes on his body: one with three points on top of his head, one with two points between his shoulders, and a diamond-shaped one near the tip of his tail. While most of his body was still blue, the lower jaw was yellow and there was an asymmetrical, yellow-and-blue pattern around his chest that resembled spotted skin.

"Oh shit!" A.J. paled a bit and his sandslash took a step back, neither of them as sure of their victory as they were as before.

Ash also noticed that Abzu wasn't bleeding anymore, which meant that evolution had accelerated the healing process of his previous injury. He pumped his fist and grinned savagely. "That's it! That's what I'm talking about! Let's do this Abzu!"

His newly evolved croconaw matched his expression, revealing the rows of sharp fangs with tips slanted backwards like barbed fish hooks and roared.

"Sandslash! Swift! Then dig!" Shouted A.J., his voice a bit panicked. After seeing the inside of that croconaw's maw, he didn't want his starter anywhere near it.

"Counter with pulse barrage!"

The body of the sandslash glowed white before it spun around and launched several stars made out of white energy that homed in on Abzu. The mouse pokemon didn't even wait to see if its attack had any effect before it dove into the ground using one of the previous holes that were already there.

In response to the incoming attack, Abzu followed Ash's instructions and quickly formed and launched as many water pulses as energy stars were heading his way, destroying all of them before they even got close. Ash noticed that not only did Abzu form them faster than before, but each water pulse he launched just now was stronger and bigger than his normal ones before he evolved.

That gave him an idea.

"Full power water gun trough the nearest hole! Then aqua jet! Finish it with ice fang!"

A.J.'s eyes widened at that. "No! Sandslash! Get out of there!"

Despite the short moment it took for Abzu to reach the nearest hole dug by his opponent, it wasn't enough time for the mouse pokemon the get out of the small tunnel system it made before Abzu spewed a massive stream of pressurized water into said hole. In naught but a moment the impromptu battlefield became a field of geysers as highly pressurized water was spewed from each of the holes.

Almost immediately a screeching sandslash was launched to the air by one of the artificial geysers.

Abzu cloaked himself in water and light blue energy that shaped itself into a drill that wasn't as vague as before timing it right and launching itself towards the falling and flailing sandslash that couldn't do anything to prevent an aqua jet using Abzu from ramming directly into it. The force and momentum of the attack carried then forward even after it lost its power and Abzu held on tightly to the sandslash as they rolled on the ground after they landed dozens of meters away from their point of collision.

Abzu pinned the sandslash to the ground before opening its maw wide, his fangs glowing with icy energy as he got ready to finish the battle once it for all. The sandslash, very tired and significantly injured, could only widen its eyes as it saw Abzu's maw aiming for its head…

… only for it to close around empty air with a snapping sound and a sharp exhalation of icy energy.

A.J. had quickly returned his starter before that happened. "Holy shit! That was close!" He exclaimed, watching with wide eyes as Abzu realized that he'd just won before he reared back and roared in victory, revealing a scar in the shape of an 'X' right in the middle of his chest.

Ash was also grinning… until Abzu's suddenly rolled backwards and he fell forward, clearly unconscious. Ash didn't waste any time to return him to his pokeball. The state of stasis would keep him safe until he could give him first aid and check for any injuries that would need professional attention at a pokemon center.

Ash smiled down at the slightly damp pokeball. "You did it. I couldn't be any prouder," he whispered to it fondly before pressing it to his forehead for a moment and then putting in on its spot on his belt. He looked up to see A.J. approaching him with a resigned but satisfied expression on his face.

"Gotta admit, that was the most intense battle I've had so far," he said once approached and sighed as he pulled out his tablet and accepted his defeat. "It was mostly luck at the end when your totodile evolved out of nowhere but there's no denying you've trained him well. Hope we can do this again some time," he said and extended his hand towards the black-haired trainer.

Ash briefly checked his winnings from the battle before accepting A.J.'s handshake. "I can say the same. I knew that Abzu was close to evolving but I couldn't have known he would do so now so it is what it is," admitted Ash easily before smiling challengingly at him. "And yes. Let's battle again when we are both stronger."

A.J. grinned right back at him. "That's what I like to hear!" He declared before turning towards the approaching Leaf. "And that goes for you to as well, girly! I'll battle the both of you and win!"

Leaf nodded at him with a smile. "Sure. I'll be looking forward to it."

A.J. then bid the goodbye before releasing a beedrill, the sight of which made Ash twitch and Zephya screech in aggravation, and a relatively massive raticate and walking away up stream. From what they could hear before he got too far away, he was going to try and catch a water type before lunch.

"So…"

Ash turned towards Leaf with a raised eyebrow when he heard her trailing of with a teasing tone of voice.

"What?"

She smiled cheekily at him. "Congrats on the lucky evolution and the lucky win."

Ash's eyebrow twitched. "Did you really have to say 'lucky' twice?" He asked in annoyance and sighed when she happily nodded without a shame. "You know what? I don't care. Abzu evolved and a win is a win. My streak is still going strong. Two hundred and three strong."

Leaf raised an amused eyebrow at him before contorting her face into an arrogant sneer and raising her head to look down at him from above her nose and crossing her arms. "The only thing I can see going strong is your sheer dumb luck, Ashy-boy," she said in near perfect imitation of Gary's nasally voice.

Ash made a choking sound as he almost fell down to the floor before turning a disbelieving look in her direction.

Leaf couldn't help it and she began to laugh out loud.

Ash groaned and scowled at her. "I will forever regret travelling with you, Leaf."

Leaf was laughing so hard she was bending forward and hugging her abdomen.

"I'm not joking." Ash's scowl became an almost petulant pout.

And that only made Leaf laugh even louder.

"Hey, Zephya! Help me out a little!"

Zephya, who secretly agreed with Leaf's assessment and approved of her teasing, rolled her eyes and flapped her wings so she could back to her domains, promptly ignoring Ash's whining. It wouldn't do for her Ash to get a bigger head than the one he already had after all. While pride was encouraged, arrogance was unbecoming.

* * *

Two days after their meeting with A.J. and Abzu's evolution, on the day that marked two weeks since they left Cerulean City, Ash and Leaf made it to the Pokemon Center located north of were Route 6 started and west of the starting point of Route 7. This marked the spot where they would be going their separate ways but neither of them was thinking about that now.

Ash and Leaf walked up the counter and smiled at the Nurse Joy manning it. "Good afternoon!"

She smiled politely at them. "Hello. What can I do for you?"

Leaf unclipped her five pokeballs and put them on the counter. "We have been traveling, traveling and battling almost nonstop for the past two weeks. While I'm sure none of my team members is seriously injured, it wouldn't hurt to give them a thorough check up just in case."

Ash also put his five pokeballs on the counter. "It's the same for me, but, my croconaw evolved two days ago during a battle after receiving a nasty slash from sandslash that left a scar. I gave him first aid immediately and even though he seems fine I haven't allowed him to train or battle in the past two days. I'd like the opinion of an actual expert in pokemon health before I possibly put him at risk."

That meant that in the past two days Ash had only used Igneel, Zephya, Rexus and Titania in battle but he 'compensated' by battling and winning against more than a dozen trainers in the past two days. The thought put a smile on his face.

The smile of the Nurse Joy became positively beaming. "Ah! It's so wonderful to see young trainers that care so much for they pokemon!" She exclaimed, her eyes briefly flickering to the side to a rambunctious group of trainers that were laughing and making a lot of noise on the lobby, before she focused back on them. "Would you like rooms for the night as well?"

Ash and Leaf had caught Nurse Joy's wandering eyes but didn't comment on it and just nodded at her question. After she took their IDs and handed them their keys for their rooms, she put their pokeballs on labeled trays and took them with her so she could give their pokemon a complete check up and whatever treatment they needed.

Knowing that they weren't going to have to wait that long, Ash and Leaf made their way to the lobby to get comfortable. As they passed by the rambunctious group Nurse Joy's eyes had wandered to, they heard one of them bragging about the number of pokemon he has caught and the fact that he has one every battle he's been in ever since he started out as a trainer around the same Ash and Leaf did.

While Ash ignored it completely, Leaf couldn't help but looking at him and then rolling her eyes before ignoring him and the group.

The two of them made themselves comfortable in one of the double couches and awkwardly refused to look at each other as they avoided talking about the subject they knew they need to talk about in the very moment.

Leaf, actually being the bolder of the two when it came to matters like this, spoke up first. "So… I'll be going to Celadon City tomorrow while you'll be going to Vermillion City," she said bluntly, leaning back and looking towards the ceiling.

"Yeah," said Ash with a sigh as he mirrored her position. He paused before adopting a sheepish and embarrassed expression. "You know, whenever I said a regretted or would regret making the decision of traveling with you, I was only joking."

Leaf snorted and rolled her eyes. "Of course, I know, dummy. I also know that you can't live without me and your heart will break every morning when you notice I'm not traveling with you anymore," she told him cheekily but only Leaf knew that she was actually talking about herself. She sometime thanked Arceus the fact that Ash was denser than lead.

Now it was time for Ash to snort and roll his eyes. "As if. Just so you know, I'm glad I can finally stop holding back with my training and battling so you can keep up. As a matter of fact, I think tomorrow will be… liberating."

Leaf scowled and glared at him. "Ass!" She exclaimed before she hit him in the shoulder.

Ash mock winced and glared back at her a he gingerly held his shoulder. "Hey! Don't abuse me, woman! I'll report you to the authorities!"

The two of them glared at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing. Neither of them knew that the other was thinking the same as the other in that exact moment. _'It's moment like this that I'll miss the most.'_

Said moment, however, was going to be interrupted in quite the unpleasant manner.

"Well, hello there, cutie~" Said someone smugly in a failed attempt of sounding suave and smooth. Ash ad Leaf stopped laughing and turned towards the source only for Ash to raise an unimpressed eyebrow and Leaf to mentally groan when she saw that it was the trainer of the rambunctious group that had been bragging about his 'accomplishments' when she and Ash had been passing by them.

He looked to be their age, with fair skin and wavy blue eyes held up by a pair of sun glasses perched right above his forehead. He was wearing a pink shirt, a brown cowboy vest, bright blue jeans and brown dress shoes. His expression reminded Ash and Leaf of Gary as he looked at Leaf with amorous eyes.

It had Leaf almost gagging and Ash suddenly feeling like he wanted punch his teeth in.

Leaf's strained polite smile was more of a grimace. "Um, are you speaking to me?"

"Well, you are the only cutie around here as far as I can see so yes, I'm speaking to you," he said before running his hand through his hair and flicking them before extending said hand towards her. "My name is Damian, the number one undefeated rookie trainer!"

Leaf looked like she wanted to sick Chuck on his hand.

Ash barely managed to withhold his snort.

To not come as impolite, Leaf reluctantly decided to give her own name. "And, erm, my name is Leaf." She made no attempt to take her hand in his.

That didn't matter because Damian took one of her hands in between his, almost invading her personal space.

When he saw that, Ash's building amusement died off and a protective and possessive feeling fueled by anger began to build up within his chest as he glared at Damian with a scowl on his face,

"Leaf! What a beautiful name for such a beautiful lady! I noticed you right away the moment you entered through the doors and my heart was immediately taken!" He declared before Leaf yelped in surprise as he yanked her up to her feet. "What don't you leave that mediocre trainer and travel with me instead? I'm sure it will be worth your while," he said, wagging eyebrows suggestively.

This time around, Leaf did gag as she tried to pry her hands off his. While she wasn't weak by any means, as a male, Damian naturally had more physical strength than Leaf and with the hold he had on her hands she couldn't pry them off.

"Get your hands off her."

An irritated expression appeared on Damian's face as he turned towards the source of growling voice… "And what are you going to about it if… I… don't... want… to…" … only to tilt his head back a bit and look into the glaring red eyes of one annoyed Ash Ketchum, whom Damian noticed was a couple of inches taller than him, not to mention noticeably more fit.

Damian gulped and got his bravado back as he tightened his hold on her hands. "This is none of your business! Get lost!"

Ash saw Leaf wincing a bit and he snarled, his expression making him look like Igneel. "I said…" He reached forward, took hold of one of Damian's wrists and squeezed. "… get your fucking hands off her!"

Now it was Damian's turn to wince as Ash's actions forced him to release Leaf. The moment he did so, Ash released him, making him give a sigh of relief… until Leaf promptly kicked him in the balls, unceremoniously sending him to the ground with a hoarse squeal of agony as he cupped his crotch and writhed in pain.

"Don't you ever touch me again, asshole!" She growled down at him with a heated glare before she began to walk away. "Let's go to our rooms, Ash. I don't want to be here anymore."

Nodding, Ash first glared down at Damian and then what seemed to his group of friends/traveling partners/followers since they had stood up aggressively when Leaf righteously retaliated against Damian. At the sight of his glare, all of them gulped and backed off.

Ash snorted in derision, much like Igneel would, before he turned around and followed after Leaf. Even though she seemed mad, with reason, he was sure that it won't be long before the two of them would be laughing about this.

"Wa-wait!"

At the sound of the strained voice, Ash paused before he turned around and raising an eyebrow at the slowly standing up Damian. He felt more than heard Leaf pausing and also turning around behind him.

"What?"

Damian glared at him. "I will now allow a fucking nobody to embarrass me like this! I challenge you to a battle!"

Ash shook his head and crossed his arms. "As much as I would like to humiliate you even more, my pokemon are being checked over by Nurse Joy at the moment."

"Likewise," said Leaf dryly from where she stood behind him.

Ash smirked. "If you want a battle, you'll have to wait till tomorrow. Even if Nurse Joy gives me the all good, I already promised my team no more battling and training for the day even if I'm sure they wouldn't mind curbstomping your smug ass."

As he slowly recovered from Leaf's blow to his family jewels, Damian's expression became more indignant and furious as he also registered Ash's words. "Oh, don't worry. I can wait. Tomorrow we'll see who's going to be curbstomping who" he hissed before turning around and walking away towards his friends.

Ash snorted and turned around only to find Leaf staring intensively up at him.

"Ash?"

He raised an eyebrow at her tone. "Yes?"

"Crush him."

At Leaf's 'request', he couldn't help but grin ferally. "Gladly."

* * *

The next day, as they stepped outside of the Pokemon Center, Leaf was laughing uproariously and Ash had a satisfied grin on his face.

"Did you… did you… see … his face… when you beat… all six… of his pokemon… with just… Igneel?" She managed to get out in between her peals of laughter as she held her already aching abdomen and tears were already gathering at the corner of her eyes.

Ash chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. It was pretty funny," he said and his grin widened a bit more. "And it was even funnier when all his 'friends' left him when they realized that he was only just all talk. I can tell he's never trained a single of one of his pokemon. Heck, I'd be surprised if he actually caught them himself."

When he said that, Leaf began to laugh even louder and Ash joined in. Factoring in his joy was that after that battle, if could call it that, he needed just a little less than fourteen hundred ranking points to reach C-Rank.

The merriment continued on for a long moment until both Ash and Leaf noticed that they had reached the point at which they would need to go their separate ways. That sobered the two of them pretty quickly.

Surprisingly, it was Ash who spoke first. "I guess this is it," he said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah…" Leaf trailed off before turning towards him. "What are your plans?" They both knew she already knew them and that this was just her attempting to extend their time together just a bit longer.

Ash could appreciate and share the sentiment so he gladly indulged her. "I don't think I'll be spending more than two weeks in Vermillion City. After that I'll head to Celadon City to beat Erika. I'm not sure where I'll be going next though. What about you?"

Leaf smiled at him. "After I beat Erika, I'll spend as much as she'll have me, if she agrees, under her wing learning everything I can about how to best raise and train Forest. After that I'll head to Vermillion City to challenge Lt. Surge. After that I'll head to Fuchsia City to challenge Koga and check out the Safari Zone."

Ash nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Perhaps I'll do the same after I beat Erika," he said with a shrug.

Leaf's smile wavered a bit. "Mmm, with any luck, we'll meet each other there."

"Yeah…"

After a moment of awkward silence, Leaf sighed, stepped toward Ash and wrapped her arms around his neck. Not at all surprised, knowing that Leaf was very touchy feely when she got emotional, Ash returned the hug and wrapped his own arms around her mid-section.

"Thank you, for everything, Ash. I mean it," she told him thickly into his ear as she tightened her hold around him.

Ash smiled and responded in kind. "No problem. Anything you need, just ask."

"I'll hold you that," she said before releasing him from her hug and stepping back. She rubbed away the tears that almost fell down her face and glared seriously at Ash with slightly blushing cheeks as she put her fists on her hips. "Now, don't be a stranger, okay? I expect a text every other day and a video call at least once a week, you hear me?"

Ash made the show of rolling his eyes and waving it off as if her request was an annoyance he was reluctantly agreeing to. "Yeah, yeah. Sheesh, you are worse than mom."

Leaf's eyes twitched. "That's because we both know that if it were for you, you would disappear for months on end without contacting anybody," she got out through gritted teeth as smiled sweetly at him in a strained manner.

Ash adopted an offended expression on his face. "That's…" he began to say, paused, considered her words, shrugged and nodded without shame. "… not entirely untrue."

Leaf groaned in annoyance and rolled her eyes at that.

The two of them locked eyes and began to laugh as they exchanged one last 'moment' before the parted ways for the foreseeable future. On an unspoken agreement they decided that it was best to part ways on a happy note than a sad one. They owed each other that much at the very least.

* * *

 **Other than med school kicking my ass, lack of muse, time and motivation for writing, a sickness called Ludwig's Angina that literally almost killed me and real-life shenanigans, I have no excuse for my lack of everything regarding fanfiction during the better part of eleven months.**

 **On that same note, I found myself growing up a bit (mentally. I actually lost forty pounds or so in less than a month while I was sick) and I suppose it will be apparent as you read this chapter. With that being said, I have to admit that I was rereading A Hero's Will and Ambition a month ago and found myself cringing multiple times… on every single chapter.**

 **What I'm trying to say is that I think I'm going to rewrite it. It will have the same concept, story arcs and everything that made it so popular but with an 'I Ate Your Muffin' that is admittedly more mature and less prone to doing things because they seem cool and more because they make sense and fit the story I want to tell. I would also write it up until the end of the USJ arc and publish a chapter every other day but we'll cross that bridge if we get to it.**

 **While I make that decision (With your help. I'm going to put a poll on my profile tomorrow), I'll be posting updates for this and/or Journey of the King: The Will of D. You know I'm a slave of my muse and when it returned yesterday it had Pokemon plastered all over it.**

 **With that said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to point out any error and I'll be seeing you whenever (if) I post a chapter for any of my stories again… just kidding… I hope.**

 **Muffin out!**


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